Fruitfully Yours

You learn something new every day, and what I learned recently is that you should never overwater your orange trees. I feel so much better just knowing I have that one stashed away on a mental micro chip!

Citrus trees, if given an over supply of ground water, will expand their root systems to lap up the extra bounty. As a result, the roots get wider, but not much deeper, and very little nourishment goes up the trunk of the tree to produce leaves and fruit. Therefore, it is best to irrigate the tree at intervals, pausing between dousings to force it to absorb and use what it is given.

I think that really helps me understand some other things that greatly trouble me from time to time.

For instance, I have often wondered why God seems to alternate the times of great spiritual blessing with times of spiritual drought. In my prayer life, it seems that on one day God is so near that I take my shoes off; the next day He seems so far away that I want to put my shoes back on and walk around looking for Him. There are times when the people I witness to open the doors of their heart to Jesus Christ and trust Him as their Savior; at other times, they slam the doors of their homes on me. Why is that?

C.S. Lewis called it "The Law of Undulation". Our Heavenly Father alternates spiritual blessings and challenges in such a way as to ensure that we invest His gifts to us in ministry to others rather than just absorbing them. John 15:8, 16 and Galatians 5:22, 23 indicate to us that God demands spiritual fruit in our lives, not just roots, the former being merely a tool to reach the latter. As a matter of fact, THE PROOF OF THE ROOT IS IN THE FRUIT!! Too many of us are Matthew 13: 5,6 (also see verses 20, 21) Christians, whose roots flourish at the surface level, but have no tap root beneath and no blossoms (or fruit) above.

So, the next time you seem to be more barren than blessed, remember that God the Master Gardner knows what He is doing (John 15:1). Dig deep and wait for the latter rain (James 5:7), and draw His spiritual blessings and challenges upward into spiritual fruit!

Fruitfully Yours,
Pastor David Blevins