Those leaves

Because the cliche is so familiar, I've sometimes let it color my thinking.

You know how we compare our lives to the seasons, so that a young man is like the spring. A mature man is summertime and onward to the elderly, who are like winter. You know the rhythm of new life in spring, usually accompanied by buds and fresh blossoms. Then summer focuses on broad green leaves followed by the rich golds and oranges of fall leaves.

But winter is the time of brown dead leaves falling uselessly to the ground.

That isn't a hopeful image for us as we continue to clock up the years of our lives. Do we believe that image, that the end of our life falls, like dead leaves, uselessly to the ground?

As my body ages, I find that my mind wants to bear fruit. I want to be the tree planted in the living water of God's word, drawing from God's life and wonder. Is that my proud humanity, refusing the face the reality of time?

Well, there's another image in the Psalms. Look at this:

They will still bear fruit in old age,
they will stay fresh and green,
proclaiming, "The LORD is upright;
he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him."
Psalms 92:14-15

God never intended for our last years to be as useless as dry leaves but fruitful to our exit to heaven.

Friday Five: Fruit!

God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number. Gen 1:28

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. Prov 11:30

If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit.

John 15:5

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Gal 5:22-23

Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. Eph 5:8-11

Considering a weed

When it comes to tenacity, it’s hard to beat a weed.

I was pulling the wild things this week, amazed at the depth of their roots and the thickness of the stalk. It’s as if they know winter is coming and time is short.

Their goal is simple: provide for next year. They utilize their resources carefully because no little weeds will be coming in the spring unless they produce seeds.

The harvest is their reason for living.

Usually we consider the weed as an analogy for the persistence of evil, but consider it today as our pattern.

Remember God’s first words to Adam: “Be fruitful and increase in number.” (Gen 1:28)

Are we as determined as that weed? This isn’t just about children but about spiritual increase.

Time is short for those weeds trying to conquer my flowers. They will cling by a tendril of root to life if I let them. They sniff out the pockets of rain and push their way upward to the sun.

The opinion of the flowers doesn’t deter them. (Or for that matter, my opinion!) They aren’t sidetracked by their favorite TV show or a shopping trip. They don’t spend their spare time at the lake or shouting at a baseball team.

They are focused on fruit. Their summer work is the link to the next generation.

I’m not opposed to rest and relaxation. But we’ve made entertainment and personal fulfillment the gods of our generation. What is our goal? Are we concerned for the coming spring or for our own summer? How can we weave fruitfulness into our daily plan?

I know you think this is silly because weeds endure. We fight them but we can’t get them beaten back. They’ll be back next year despite our best efforts. They are frustrating in their resolve, amazing in their concentration.

Isn’t that the point?

“I am going to make you fruitful and will increase your numbers. I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you.”

Gen. 48:4