Me: Hey, let’s pick some apples over there and have a bite.<\/p>\n
You: Uh, that’s a thorn bush.<\/p>\n
Me: So, why can’t I get apples or peaches or mangos or grapes from it?<\/p>\n
You: Thorn bushes don’t grow fruit.<\/p>\n
…later…<\/p>\n
Me: Aha! I see some wild strawberries. Let’s have some.<\/p>\n
…picking and eating…<\/p>\n
You: These are pretty sour…and tiny.<\/p>\n
Me: Yeah, shouldn’t they be sweet and tasty? They’re strawberries after all.<\/p>\n
You: These strawberries have not been cultivated and tended. It takes effort and the right soil and equipment to make plump, delicious fruit. If we were to transplant these and with a lot of care they could be better.<\/p>\n
Me: Let me get this straight. Some plants just do not produce fruit–totally inedible. What good are they for?<\/p>\n
You: Nothing really, some animals might hide beneath the thorns but in the end these plants are only good for the fire. You clear them out so you can plant good plants.<\/p>\n
Me: Hmm…and some plants’ fruit is edible but…meh, not so much and not so tasty.<\/p>\n
You: Yes, they are the right sort of plant but growing good fruit does not happen automatically. Farmers match the right plants with the right soil, levels of sunlight, water, fertilizer and pruning to get them just right.<\/p>\n
…long silence…<\/p>\n
Me: What kind of plant do you suppose I am?<\/p>\n
You: What?<\/p>\n
Me: Well, am I a thorn bush or a fruit tree, metaphorically?<\/p>\n
You: How can you tell one from the other?<\/p>\n
Me: As you say, from the fruit! Do I have no fruit, sour fruit, a little fruit or perhaps a lot?<\/p>\n
You: Given that you’ve asked the question, I have some hope that you are at least a wild strawberry.<\/p>\n
Me: And perhaps with some cultivation…?<\/p>\n
You: With the right tending, I see some tasty produce in your future.<\/p>\n
“But the fruit\u00a0of the Spirit is love,\u00a0joy, peace,\u00a0forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,\u00a0gentleness and self-control.\u00a0Against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)<\/em><\/p>\n “By their fruit you will recognize them.\u00a0Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?\u00a0Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.\u00a0A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.\u00a0Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.\u00a0Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.” Matthew 7:16-20 (NIV)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Me: Hey, let’s pick some apples over there and have a bite. You: Uh, that’s a thorn bush. Me: So, why can’t I get apples or peaches or mangos or grapes from it? You: Thorn bushes don’t grow fruit. …later… Me: Aha! I see some wild strawberries. Let’s have some. …picking and eating… You: These […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3,4],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22,"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15\/revisions\/22"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}