Apples, pears, peaches, prunes, apricots, plums,
nectarines, grapes, blueberries, huckleberries, raspberries, banana, kiwi,
tomatoes, green beans, black beans, peanuts, walnuts, Brazil nuts, Hazel nuts,
wheat, rye, barley.
IsnÕt fruit wonderful, the above is just a short list of
various fruits, and seeds of fruit, I could come up with. What a diverse list.
The first command God gave man in the Bible is to be
fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth. Much of the time we take these two
words to mean the same thing. Simply to multiply. But if that were the case
there would be no need for the ÒandÓ. A conjunction that ties two thoughts or
words together. This same command was also given to Noah after the flood. Again
using both terms. The Bible also uses the term fruitful over twenty five times
on its own.
While you cannot deny that there is a strong relationship
between fruitfulness and multiplication and reproduction, something else must
set fruitful multiplication apart from just reproduction. I would submit that
this would be the flavor of the fruit, at least to God, and probably to man
also.
I buy my produce and fruit at a road side stand that
handles a lot of stuff that will not be sold at the major supermarkets. Either
it is too ripe, or they got a good deal on it in bulk, or some such similar
opportunity.
Some years ago, I was looking through the bin of
Delicious Apples when I got really excited, for much of the bin was filled with
the original Delicious Apples. These were the apples that gave Delicious its
name. (The ones that Adam and Eve ate in the garden?) The problem is that you
cannot buy these Delicious Apples in the store any more, for they really are
not the super red apples you now have come to expect. The super red store
apples have at least three or four chromosomes that produce the red pigment in
the apple skins, This, originally a natural mutation, made the apples look
better, but the red pigment is something that you can definitely taste, if you
look for it.
The original Delicious Apples are somewhat green with red
stripes, and the taste, should I say, is Delicious. These old Delicious apples
come from the old orchards and to the extent that they are still available are
used to make apple juice, unless you by chance find them in some bulk bin in a
road side fruit and produce stand.
As I was sorting through the bin picking out the best of
these greenish apples, finding the firmest, for even the red ones donÕt keep
well except in controlled atmosphere storage, one of the workers at the stand
noticed me picking through the bin and selecting the striped apples, instead of
the real red ones.
ÒWhy arenÕt you taking the red ones?Ó He ask.
As I explained the story to him, he said that he surely
would try the old style, for I had tweaked his interest.
For most of manÕs history, he has worked with nature to
develop better varieties of fruit. This has meant, varieties that taste better,
or are more productive. This tendency has been supplanted in recent times with
the desire to produce fruit and produce that can be shipped to market,
sometimes thousands of miles away. So this leaves us with the question, is this
much multiplied fruit, more fruitful?
We see this same fruiting tendency in most of manÕs endeavors.
Instead of vine ripened varieties of apricots, naturalized for the local
market, we get instead hard, orange varieties, that taste more like cardboard.
We have been marketed SUVÕs that will never see a gravel road, with absolutely
no chance or ability to be used off road. Clothes are designed in New York, Los
Angeles, or Paris, with only the thought of fashion conscious consumption, with
little utilitarian value. We peddle religion with most, if not all of the same
Madison Avenue hype. All these things sell. But what ever happened to the
taste?
Back to our produce example for a moment. Much of this
fruit we consume is what is known as hybrid varieties. These are basically
highly inbred varieties, that are chosen for a specific characteristic, which are
genetically cross bred, with others genetically enhanced (naturally, or now
through genetic engineering, for other characteristics. Hybrids, donÕt
reproduce, they donÕt multiply. They are sterile. Are they fruitful?
The fruitful and multiply that the Bible speaks, is
beyond just multiplication, it also tastes good. Maybe not to everyone, perhaps
we could say it is an acquired taste. But not only does the Biblical doctrine
of Christianity reproduce, it brings freedom from bondage, and its fruit will
never die.
We donÕt tend, we do value, or esteem, the fruitfulness
of our work by our perception, and the worldÕs perception of its value. If a
cardboard tasting nectarine is on sale for 79 cents per pound, what is the
value of the succulent tree ripened fruit. Have we evolved so far, that we
donÕt even know how to calculate a cost? Or more to the point, why do we even
need such an equation?
IÕm writing this over on my property, whence the wind
storm took out the power, and yet to be restored. The pretense was that the
well drilling company was going to drill the well last Friday. They arrived,
because of additional work commitments to finish the preceding job, not in the
morning, but about 1:30 in the afternoon. After spending a couple of hours
getting set up, they drilled about twenty feet in about an hour. ÒSee you
Monday.Ó
Its now the same time Monday and no one has shown up. Two
large trucks are ready to work, to drill maybe another forty feet to water, but
no workers. However, while I was stewing about where they were, I noticed a
family of otters on the other river bank. Once, I saw one otter, I think, in
Lake Washington, while on a walk one day. Today, I saw a whole family. A big
papa, a mama, and a couple of young. After playing around on the rocks for a
couple of hours, I got out my video camera, took a few seconds of video and
soon, all four of them headed down stream.
The MasterCard advertisement says ÒPricelessÓ. Fruitful
would be a better term. And as I have been racking my brain, wondering on one
hand where in the world are the well drillers, on the otter (sic), I have
witnessed something I have never seen before, and perhaps shall never see
again.
This, I suppose, is perhaps the best definition of
fruitful work. And as you can understand from this writing, I really have no
idea how to bring it about through my gifted ingenuity. I imagine, but I wonÕt
say for sure, you donÕt have a much better handle on it either.
Just as good fruit tastes good, it takes certain aspects
of faith, rain, bees, lack of frost, an other God controlled consequences to
produce a fruitful harvest. We can provide either a tree that produces
cardboard tasting fruit, or one that tastes so good, that we have a foretaste
of heaven. That is our choice, our work. But if we live our lives like
cardboard fruit, or promoting cardboard producing trees, is it any wonder that
no one stops at our road side stand to buy our fruit.
Perhaps, loveÕs fruitful work application is in the life
of the otters. On their journey down river, they took a couple of hours to sun
themselves, to rest, and to play
before they commenced again their trip to somewhere. Translated in
people terms, these otters probably have more fruitful lives, than most families,
in virtually any country in the world. In that light, the otter familyÕs
dependence on God for their survival and their fruitfulness, may offer our
world a hope we are all too busy to see.
It looks like my well drillers are not going to show up
today. Now, what am I going to do. IÕm also about to run out of lap top battery
power, with no way to recharge the batteries. IÕm sure glad I have this LoveÕs
work trilogy all figured out. ItÕs so simple to understand. So impossible for
us to live out in our own strength. But the Bible sums it up quite well in the
words of Proverbs 3:5,6: Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on
your own understanding: In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall
direct your paths.
Well, the lap top died for lack of power and I forgot to
bring the charger since I was only planning on being there one day. The well
drillers returned Tuesday morning, the lead got sick, and worked until they ran
out of casing. Tomorrow they plan on finishing it. They have found plenty of
water at the depth everyone figured, except they have drilled 80 extra feet (so
far) through fine and very fine sand, too fine to put in a screen. The short of
it is we are going to end up with an exceedingly fine well, perhaps one of the
best in the region. It is just not what I was planning on, including
financially. Please intercede for God to guide and provide the well He has
intended.
This brings me to the Proverbs quotation again. If there
was a week when I am well beyond my understanding, this is it. The whole set of
circumstances are completely mind boggling, including a visit from my landlord
while I was away. They left a note assuming I am going to be paying for this
whole house with a very significant raise in rent, and I really do not want to
stay. In short, this, my lack of understanding, requires a pretty direct path
from the LORD, and soon. So I surely would covet your prayers at this time.