Longing Just to Bring Something that's of Worth
Spring has sprung and it's time to plant our garden. I will admit that we've not had much success in the past (partly because I'm not very faithful at weeding....or watering... or fertilizing...). Many times, I've thanked God for letting me be born into this generation when I can just drive to Walmart to get food instead of the survival of my family depending on my agricultural skills. However, despite my past failures, I think this year will be different. My father-in-law recently built our family a table-top greenhouse for us to start some plants for our garden. And things are looking good:
These sweet little flowers represent future strawberries!
This little dude just poked through. One day he will be a big, strong stalk of celery!
These are some sort of beans. I found that they had sprouted in the package that had slipped down between a couple pots of soil. I stuck them down into the soil and they have continued to grow.
The beginning of this little garden comes at a time in my life when the prayer of my heart echoes these words of a popular worship song: I'm "longing just to bring something that's of worth" to my Lord, the Master Gardener. I'm praying for the Spirit to produce real fruit in my life.
God began speaking to me about bearing fruit on my last trip to Haiti. In preparing to serve at the local orphanage, we brought with us the "Jelly Bean Prayer" for the children as a special way to teach the Gospel. This fun little Easter activity was meaningful in my family--God had used this simple baggie of jelly beans given by a Sunday School teacher to lead my daugher Julie to accept Jesus Christ as her Savior. I couldn't wait to share with these kids what each colored jelly bean meant... the black for our sin, the red for Jesus' blood, the white for our purity in Him, the pink for his love for us.... I had even translated the prayer into Creole for them to keep after we had left.
However, passing out these snack sized baggies basically incited a riot and the children wolfed down the jelly beans before I could even say "jelly". Twelve seconds later, my much anticipated teaching moment was over, ziplock bags strewn all over the ground. I left there feeling defeated. A little bag of candy suddenly felt like such an insignificant offering to the God of the Universe. Later that day, in prayer, I told God that I was just wanting to bring something that was of worth. What I was longing for was true, ripe, abundant, wonderful fruit...Something that would truly make a lasting difference in the lives of the Haitian people, not just give them a moment of sweet joy.
God's word gives practical advice about gardening. To produce real fruit, both in the physical realm and the spiritual realm, we need five basic things:
1. A planted seed: To grow an apple tree, one must first plant an apple seed. The seed is hidden in the ground for a long while, just waiting for perfect conditions to sprout. To produce a fruitful Christian life, the seed of God's Word must first be planted in your heart. In the parable of the sower in Mark 4:14, Jesus says that "The farmer sows the word." God is the farmer, and His Word is the seed. Psalm 119:11 says, "I have hidden your word in my heart." Just as a seed hidden in the soil sometimes takes time to grow, hiding the seeds of God's truth in our heart is the first step in producing a fruitful life.
2. Fertile soil: For a seed to take root, it needs to be hidden deep in soil that is free from rocks and thorns. Likewise, as Jesus teaches in Matthew 13: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown...When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
3. Water: No matter what seed is planted in what soil, it needs water to grow. Without water, the soil will dry up and the young seedling will shrivel. Psalm 1 says, "Blessed is the one...whose delight is in the law of the Lord...That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers." Jesus IS the Living Water. Staying close to him, planting our lives in Him, will yield real fruit in season and keep us from withering.
4. Sun: Third grade science class teaches us about photosynthesis...light transforms chlorophyll into sugar, or something like that. The bottom line is that light makes food for plants. They need it to continue to grow. Furthermore, plants grow TOWARD the light. 1 John 1:5 says that "God IS light." Psalm 119:105 says that God's word is a light to our path. God's word feeds us, nourishes us, transforms us. The more of God's light that we experience, the more we will grow towards it. We need God's light to grow and produce fruit.
5. Pruning/Weeding: This is the hard part. The part that hurts. The part that we'd rather avoid. However, cutting off a dead part of a plant is necessary for better growth. I never understand this until just today as I read about how this works. Evidently the dead part takes up space and precious water, robbing the good and healthy part of the plant of getting what it needs to produce more fruit. Likewise, in our lives, "He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." (John 15:2) God's "pruning" comes in the form of trials that help cut off anything dead and lifeless in us, which makes room for the growth of healthy spiritual fruit.
Finally, after planting the seed...
after providing fertile soil....
after watering the seed...
after providing light to the seed...
and after pruning the plant...
God brings THE HARVEST.
As any master gardener knows, it takes tons of time and attention to produce a great harvest. It's hard work. However, when we follow God's guide to gardening, the harvest is guaranteed. It's not a gamble; we don't have to wonder if it will produce. However, it's sometimes a difficult process-- to faithfully plant the seeds of God's word in our life...to protect the soil of our hearts so that it's fertile ground...to stay planted by the river of life...to grow towards God's light...and to welcome the trials of the life that prune us for great growth.
Psalm 126:5-6 provide a wonderful word picture for us:
Those who sow with tears
will reap with songs of joy.
6
Those who go out weeping,
carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
carrying sheaves with them.
Sometimes life is just plain hard. Sometimes we have to get down on our knees and dig in some figurative dirt. The Bible tells us that if we plant the seeds of God's word in this dirt, and we water it with our tears, we WILL return with a harvest. Beth Moore teaches, "sowing the seed of God's Word in a terribly difficult situation is not easy! But God promises you, absolutely promises you that if you do, you will receive a harvest that is worth shouting about! So get down on those knees and start digging in the ground of your reality and sow some seed. He who promised is faithful." ("Stepping Up")
My desire remains: to bring something that's of worth. To produce good fruit. Is this true of you? To do that, we need to stay connected to the True Vine, planted by streams of Living Water, bathed in God's light. And when we do, an abundant harvest of good fruit is guaranteed.
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