My grandmother passed away last week.
She was 101 years old.
Due to her longevity, her funeral was more of a celebration, rather than a morose assembling.
And as I got to thinking about Lady Esther Bermiss' life, one thing stuck out to me more than any other thing.
Her fruit of gentleness.
If there was ever to be a woman to personify Christ's depiction of a "quiet and gentle spirit", my grandmother would be the Lady of the Occasion.
And what makes her gentle spirit so worthy of admiration is the hard life that she led. She was of a lower working class, she has witnessed cruelties and sorrows on many fronts, yet she always had a smile on her face, a kind word to bestow, and prayer in her heart on your behalf.
What beautiful fruit she cultivated and passed down to her children, grandchildren, and great grandson. Because of her fruit, we are blessed. The bible says that blessing (and unfortunately, curses) are passed down to the future generations.
I'm so glad that as I strive to re-grow my fruit tree, I have the fertile soil of hers to help give it a little boost.
Rest in Peace, Tata.
May my fruit tree reach to the doors of heaven and greet you with a gentle thank you.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Eating My Own Fruit
There are many good cooks in this world. And what a lot of them like to do is host parties and invite all of their friends and family to gather around the table to enjoy their home-cooked meal.
Now, there are also many people who aren't exactly gifted in the culinary arts. However, they are unaware (or in denial) and invite everyone to their home-cooked dinner party as well. They taste their own food and they are amazed while everyone else passively avoids commenting on their food.
The latter bunch look a lot like those who think their spiritual fruit are ripe and sweet, while the truth is that they are irascible, selfish, negative, and proud.
Imagine that.
A wise man once said that we will eat the fruit of our words and our actions.
Point of reflection: if your attitudes, words, and thoughts could be turned into fruit, what kind of fruit would it be? Would it be not yet ripe? Ripe? Browning? Decayed?
Of course everyone wants to equate their lifestyle and character with ripe fruit, but some people (including me) sometimes seem to have taste buds that aren't functioning correctly.
The fruit of lies, deception, gossip, hatred, jealousy may seem sweet and feel like nourishment to the body, but they're actually poisoning and isolating us.
Mark 7:15 says: Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.'"
What kind of fruit are you producing? What fruit are you subjecting yourself (and others) to?
is it time to tear down your fruit tree and replant?
Now, there are also many people who aren't exactly gifted in the culinary arts. However, they are unaware (or in denial) and invite everyone to their home-cooked dinner party as well. They taste their own food and they are amazed while everyone else passively avoids commenting on their food.
The latter bunch look a lot like those who think their spiritual fruit are ripe and sweet, while the truth is that they are irascible, selfish, negative, and proud.
Imagine that.
A wise man once said that we will eat the fruit of our words and our actions.
Point of reflection: if your attitudes, words, and thoughts could be turned into fruit, what kind of fruit would it be? Would it be not yet ripe? Ripe? Browning? Decayed?
Of course everyone wants to equate their lifestyle and character with ripe fruit, but some people (including me) sometimes seem to have taste buds that aren't functioning correctly.
The fruit of lies, deception, gossip, hatred, jealousy may seem sweet and feel like nourishment to the body, but they're actually poisoning and isolating us.
Mark 7:15 says: Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.'"
What kind of fruit are you producing? What fruit are you subjecting yourself (and others) to?
is it time to tear down your fruit tree and replant?
Monday, April 25, 2011
Bare Fruit to Bear Fruit
Winter of 2010-2011 was a long winter for me.
Let's just say that as the leaves and fruit were drying up and falling off of trees during summer's change to fall and fall to winter, so did my spiritual fruit.
One by one, the apples of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control fell from my tree. (Galatians 5:22-23)
And one thing I've learned is that spiritual fruit should not fully emulate the lifestyle of actual fruit. Yes, both kinds of fruit are nourishment to the body, and yes, both kinds of fruit sprout, grow, and hang for people to come and pick from when hungry for that nourishment, but spiritual fruit should (ideally) never have a fall and winter season. They defy the vicissitudes of our seasonal calendar. Spiritual fruit should only know spring. :-)
I wouldn't be able to tell you exactly when and why each fruit dropped to the ground, but every month or so, I realized that I'd lost yet another fruit. And as I scrambled to find that lost fruit, another dropped.
It wasn't until Palm Sunday, that I realized that my fruit tree was completely bare.
No, this isn't a harsh self-reflection. It's a simple truth.
Now, I wasn't a complete wreck...there were remnants of my past fruit. Some days, a small branch of joy or faithfulness or love would sprout, but my days of abounding fruit were nowhere to be found.
Let me tell you what happens when you start losing your fruit: you become irritable, selfish, moody, distracted, pessimistic, defensive and dependent. Dependent on what? Anything that isn't God. It could be people, retail therapy, food, television, etc... And let me tell you, they all grow old VERY quickly.
Like the old folks used to say: if you never want to be disappointed, put your hope in God.
I was saved to bear fruit, so things had to change. John 15:8 states, "This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples." If you don't look at me and get a sense of joy, peace, love, or any of the other fruit, I am not doing my job as a believer. If I don't draw you near and allow my fruit to drop into your fruit basket (there should be enough to go around)...or encourage your fruit tree to grow...I'm not on the right path.
I feel that everyone gets into a rut and this was mine. I stopped bearing fruit.
With this in mind, I decided to encourage my own fruit tree to grow through this blog (and more praying, fasting and reading of the Divine Word of course).
Won't you take the journey with me?
You can never have too much fruit.
Let's just say that as the leaves and fruit were drying up and falling off of trees during summer's change to fall and fall to winter, so did my spiritual fruit.
One by one, the apples of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control fell from my tree. (Galatians 5:22-23)
And one thing I've learned is that spiritual fruit should not fully emulate the lifestyle of actual fruit. Yes, both kinds of fruit are nourishment to the body, and yes, both kinds of fruit sprout, grow, and hang for people to come and pick from when hungry for that nourishment, but spiritual fruit should (ideally) never have a fall and winter season. They defy the vicissitudes of our seasonal calendar. Spiritual fruit should only know spring. :-)
I wouldn't be able to tell you exactly when and why each fruit dropped to the ground, but every month or so, I realized that I'd lost yet another fruit. And as I scrambled to find that lost fruit, another dropped.
It wasn't until Palm Sunday, that I realized that my fruit tree was completely bare.
No, this isn't a harsh self-reflection. It's a simple truth.
Now, I wasn't a complete wreck...there were remnants of my past fruit. Some days, a small branch of joy or faithfulness or love would sprout, but my days of abounding fruit were nowhere to be found.
Let me tell you what happens when you start losing your fruit: you become irritable, selfish, moody, distracted, pessimistic, defensive and dependent. Dependent on what? Anything that isn't God. It could be people, retail therapy, food, television, etc... And let me tell you, they all grow old VERY quickly.
Like the old folks used to say: if you never want to be disappointed, put your hope in God.
I was saved to bear fruit, so things had to change. John 15:8 states, "This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples." If you don't look at me and get a sense of joy, peace, love, or any of the other fruit, I am not doing my job as a believer. If I don't draw you near and allow my fruit to drop into your fruit basket (there should be enough to go around)...or encourage your fruit tree to grow...I'm not on the right path.
I feel that everyone gets into a rut and this was mine. I stopped bearing fruit.
With this in mind, I decided to encourage my own fruit tree to grow through this blog (and more praying, fasting and reading of the Divine Word of course).
Won't you take the journey with me?
You can never have too much fruit.
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