Show Your Fruit

Every few years, my employer will hold a seminar that focuses on crafting our next strategic plan. We pull in a variety of staff members from across the organization, harnessing the strengths from just about every position in order to build the next plan. While working on that plan, we had to develop some goals and objectives that would connect to our values. The connection was important. Not to check something off of our to-do list, but to illustrate how much we valued our customers by keeping our goals focused on their needs. 

While working on this project, I began to think about trees. Trust me. The connection isn’t as odd as you think. I began to think about trees because of the connective nature of the project we were working on. Every tree has some essential parts. Roots, branches, and, ultimately, leaves. Depending on the tree, it may even produce some fruit. That’s how I envisioned the goals and objectives we were working on. Branches and leaves. Thinking about it that way also made me realize the importance of producing fruit that looked like it belonged on the same tree. For example, if I saw what should be an apple tree sprouting daisies, then my first inclination would be to investigate. I was expecting fruit. Why do I have flowers?

This experience isn’t uncommon to our spiritual living. If my fruit drastically differs from the fruit of the spirit, then that is a pretty plain tell that perhaps we don’t spring from the same tree. But if we are all children of God, our fruit, that is what we produce, should have similarities. Every now and then we need to check our soil. What’s planted there? What am I expecting versus what I’m seeing. Are there things buried beneath that I’ve forgotten about? The work on becoming better versions of ourselves should be never ending. I like telling people that you should never feel like you’re done learning. I feel the same in my faith journey. I should never feel like I can grow, expand, or stretch my faith even further than I already have. That’s a true stretch assignment. Keep an eye on what you are producing in and for the faith.

Walk in the Light

Ephesians 5:8