One chapter that had me bawling was the chapter on bearing fruit, "Heavy Branches." I think this chapter absolutely applies to everyone in every walk of life. For me personally though, I can relate to always feeling that my time could be spent more cost efficiently, particularly in a generation when it seems our most valuable currency is time. I invest my time in what many would call frivolous--this blog, making my own baby food instead of buying jars (cheaper and faster), scrapbooking, helping Stephen start up a business from scratch while we live in a tiny apartment in a two-family house, planning a first birthday party, etc. The list goes on. I wonder so often if we make the right choices to invest our time, energy, and money.
Heavy Branches - Chapter 6 (Loving the Little Years)
"When I was in junior high and early high school, we lived in an old farmhouse that had grown into the middle of town. In the side yard, right outside my window, were two old apple trees. And year after year they made apples. I clearly remember lying in bed at night and hearing the apples falling off the tree--not occasionally, but continually. They were justy thumping on the ground all through the night. And these trees had been throwing apples on the ground every August for probably ninety years or so. It is something I love about fruit-bearing trees and bushes--that God told them to make something, and they do it enthusiastically. They don't care about what happens to the fruit. They do not measure their efforts or fuss when no one appreciates it.My mind has been wandering around, thinking about fruit a lot lately--a friend had me over to pick blackberries off her insanely productive blackberry patch, and then we went to an orchard to press cider. These little fruit-oriented events got me thinking about the nature of fruitfulness. Just what does being fruitful look like?
If you are like me, probably one of the first things you think of is Psalm 128: 'Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table.'
But the funny thing is that in this verse, the fruitful vine is not bearing children, she is bearing fruit. The children were all off her vine long ago and are responsible for their own fruit-bearing. She is just a heavy laden vine. My mom has always taught that fruitfulness is not equal to bearing children, and here is another example of that. The mere fact of having had children does not mean you are a fruitful person. That would be like the apple trees calling it off after their first year of bearing fruit.
But true fruitfulness requires constant, year-round attention. It requires taking risks. It might mean making a truckload of apples to throw in a ditch out in the country somewhere. It is funny to think about, but God does not tell us to necessarily be strategic with our fruit. We do not need to know what will happen to the fruit. Will someone check on it every day? Harvest the best to make a pie? Or will there be a junior high kid sweating about among the yellow jackets trying to pick it all up--wishing that we were not quite so bountiful? What happens to all our fruit is not our problem. That doesn't mean that we are not to care about the fruit. While it is on our branches, it is our life work. It is an offering to God, and we ought to care intensely about the quality of our fruit. But the branches are our responsibility; the ground is not.
But what does this apply to in real life? Well, think about yourself and about the things you do. Look at it like fruit. Are you holding yourself back on things, afraid that the end result will not be worthy of your labor? Are you afraid to fail? Is there some domestic activity that you would love to know how to do, but don't want to try in case it doesn't turn out? Are you afraid to try new recipes? Are you afraid to put energy or money into something that might turn into nothing? Do you think fondly of some day when you might bear fruit, but resist getting right down to business this year? Do you evaluate the necessity of everything, passing it by if it doesn't add up to be practical? Are you limiting the branches upon which you are willing to bear fruit?
I think that in some ways we have let our cultural admiration for efficiency get into places that it doesn't belong. Speaking for myself, sometimes I am working away on something and just cannot shake the question 'Why am I doing this? Is this a ridiculous use of my time? Should I be doing something that matters, rather than (say) knitting a costumed mouse?' But it is very freeing to laugh at yourself--laugh when you know that apple you were working on may very well fall to the ground, and who cares? but the chances are good that the more fruit you make the more fruit gets used. The more you throw yourself into heavy branches, the more inviting the fruit, and the more inviting the fruit, the more people it is likely to feed.
Some of those apples will fall to the ground and rot. But God uses rotten apples--to fertilize the ground, to start more apple trees after little animals plant them, and just to make the air smell sticky sweet. You cannot know the depth of His plan for your fruit. So throw it out there on the ground when you have no plan for its future. Waste it. Waste homemade pasta (and the mess it makes) on your family. Don't save cloth napkins for company only--sew a dress your daughter doesn't really need. Be bountiful with your fruit and free with it. The only thing you can know for certain is that God will use it."
That's what I take away; however, I think that this concept can apply to anyone. Everyone should know that their hard work is never in vain, even when it may feel that way sometimes. We have no idea what God is doing behind the scenes and the impact we are having. How many times do we look back on a situation that seemed so bleak and realize how much good came out of it in the aftermath?How that experience has given us the ability to help other people or encourage them. How it took us out of a relationship we thought we wanted and given us something better. How it inspired us to overcome or create or be better? Heavy branches full of fruit is a life well lived, full of memories and experiences. Nothing of value comes easily but the payoff is always rich, even if that richness wasn't something you always had a taste for.
Thanks for reading!
Picture Memories:
- An idyllic day out with the grandparents, Kailyn, Ian, and Jess. Stephen was camping with the seniors and missed a wonderful spontaneous adventure. We went to Infuse Tea Bar in West Sayville...if you haven't been there and love tea it's the ONLY place to get tea on Long Island. Don't spend your money anywhere else! We also took a tour tour of St. John's Episcopal church and cemetery. There are graves dating back to the late eighteenth century! Aria and I walked the labyrinth. There is an awesome thrift store attached to the church that we hit while we were out there.
- Miscellaneous escapades in our living room, yard, and at church
- LIVC work related events
- Mother's Day and Father's Day
- 4th of July
- Our mini vacation to Virginia (in remarkably random order) to visit Laura & Landon, Jackie, JC & Ally, John, Holly, Madison & Zachary. The times were sweet. A trip we will always remember. Aria's first road trip! We travelled at her bedtime which worked like a charm. On the way back home we stopped at Waterman's Crab House in Rock Hall, MD (a place my family used to vacation) for dinner.
