Most people like fruit. Well, most people like to eat fruit, but not necessarily cultivate fruit. Both literally and metaphorically people tend to responded with joy when good fruit is produced and with even more joy when they were the ones that produced the good fruit to the pleasure of others.
I grow figs. Figs are not a very popular fruit to grow in the U.S. as they are delicate, not easily stored, and the poison center says that the milky sap from fig trees can be noxious causing symptoms that include rashes, redness, blistering and swelling. However, figs can be used to sweeten just about any dish and are a truly awesome fruit/vegetable to eat possessing great nutritional qualities helping our bodies defend against weigh gain, cancer, muscular dystrophy. They are just difficult to cultivate.
For the last few years I have spent a lot of time pruning and growing my fig tree and cultivating it to produce fruit, shade, and to be a beautiful addition to my backyard. Over the last few years it has become a large tree and is now producing a great crop of fruit for friends and family to share and enjoy.
However, I am intolerant to figs and the tree they grow on. They make my throat itch. Picking them off the tree makes my skin burn. That tree has caused me work, pain, and lots of money. But even though my body is allergic to the tree and the outside of the fruit, I still love that tree and l love to make strawberry fig preserves out of the fruit to give to others to enjoy. Even though they are difficult to cultivate for me I believe they are worth the sacrifice to produce in my life and I find them to be a joyous experience.
Over the past few months we have been studying Galatians 5: 22-23. There Paul talks about the Fruit of the Spirit which is Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Like real fruit, people love to experience these fruits and take part in the receiving of these fruits from others. But not all people want to go through the process and work of cultivating these fruits in their own lives.
We know that these are healthy and good for us and we respond with thanksgiving and blessing when others have cultivated these fruits for us to dine on. But to many people these are unpopular fruits to grow as they can be painful and difficult to cultivate and of seemingly little benefit to their own somewhat selfish lives. Many are simply turned off by the pain and hurt that the cultivation of these fruits may require and opt to be consumers of the fruit rather than producers.
Today I want you to know that we are producing fruit here at Singing Oaks Church of Christ. At times it is difficult and painful. We are not perfect and at times we prune the wrong branches, but we still share in the fruit God is producing through us. You will find people all over who are helping cultivate the Fruit of the Spirit in their own lives and others. This week we get to see a special portion of that fruit cultivated through our graduating seniors who will soon go off from here as a visible and tangible representation of the works of the Spirit here at Singing Oaks and bringing the Fruit of the Spirit to bless and sweeten the lives of others.