Hello,
Is 52 apple trees enough?
Apparently not. A little
over four years ago we built a house on a portion of an old , untended apple
orchard, and there were 52 trees on our property. The apple orchard went out of business decades ago and none
of the trees had been tended since.
So, my wife took a look at the trees on our property and decided that we
should try and be orchard tenders.
You can imagine that the decades of trimming neglect left the trees very
unruly with large, trunk-like branches.
Since my wife did the research on
proper apple tree trimming, what else could I do but let her do most of the
trimming (especially when it was cold and snowy), lending my brawn when the
branches with a width of 4-5 inches needed to be cut. When we finished our trimming it looked like our trees had
had an encounter with a military barber…..buzzed. Ears lowered, it became apparent that there were some bald
spots in our orchard….52 trees was not enough….so she ordered 5 more trees
(seedlings which looked like a 2 foot stick) to join our grove.
The first year’s harvest
was three apples…yes, three apples.
We wondered if maybe our trimming zeal had been a bit zealous, but
unfortunately with tree trimming, like sky diving, there’s no second chances. The second year our orchard’s output
magnified to about three brown paper bags of apples, most of which had become
the home of worms since we didn’t spray in time. This year, however, the apple production has taken off. Many of our trees are loaded with
apples making the well trimmed branches bend sharply to the ground. We are now flooded with apples; big, edible
ones because we sprayed the trees in the fall and we trimmed the branches. If you want apples….we have them! Abundant apples.
Jesus said that he had come that we might have life, life
abundant….lives abundantly bearing God’s fruit, fruit of the Spirit, having
been grafted on to the body of Christ by the master orchard tender. “Love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23gentleness,
and self-control,” are the fruit of the Spirit, fruit that when its harvest in
our life is abundant, such a life is a blessing to one’s self and to the world.
When I think about why I go to church every Sunday, I know that I don’t
go to make God happy and love me more.
He sent his Son to die for me….how could he love me more. He has staked his claim on me, his
treasure…the apple of his eye…he already looks upon me with divine joy. No, when I go to church every week, God
is doing to my life what a good orchard tender does to the trees to increase
the harvest. God trims back the
things that I fill an hour of my life so that the light of his grace might more
brightly fall upon me and that the nourishment of his mercy might more
powerfully take hold of me…..so that in the end….the harvest of the fruit of
the Spirit might be…well….abundant!
Sometimes when I am at church it doesn’t seem like much is happening to
me…my mind wanders, the sermon is less than stellar (yes, even when I am
preaching), the music is hard to sing, and my eyelids are heavy…but even in
those times, times when I might say that I am not getting much out of
worship…God is accomplishing what he wants to accomplish….some needed trimming
of my life…trimming that God knows will produce what he wills for me….an
abundant harvest of the Spirit’s fruit.
Just like our orchard, the abundance isn’t usually immediate, but with
time and graceful attention it arrives….abundantly.
So, let me invite you to come to church this Sunday for a little
trimming. You will be amazed at
what trimming does for the harvest of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
God’s grace and peace,
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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