About forty-five years ago, I planted four pear trees in my backyard. There were three different kinds. One variety was good for eating right off the tree, one was harder but great for cooking, and the other looked the best and was very juicy. When you plant fruit trees, you have expectations of that day when you can go out with a basket and pick your fruit. With that many pear trees, I did not expect to see years when all four had great fruit-bearing seasons in the same year. With our pecan trees also doing well, our yard had many birds and squirrels spending their days there.
One of the first lessons I learned is that birds and squirrels will eat small portions of the pears and quickly move to other pears. It is amazing how many they can ruin in just one hour. The second lesson was how long it takes to clean up the pears on the ground before you can mow the grass. Well, the third lesson is why you do not just mow over them. Now for the good part, Eva had great recipes for pies, pear bread, and cakes. Our daughters would deliver pear bread to our neighbors each year when we were able to share the bounty of a good season.
When we moved to this house, the former owners had planted a lemon tree. It was a beautiful tree when we bought the house in May but after the blooming season. By the fall, we could see that the tree was loaded with lemons. We would learn that it was Meyer lemons, and they are shaped like oranges and not the typical lemon shape. Around Thanksgiving, our granddaughters would help us pick and bag the lemons. They would pull the little red wagon loaded with bags of lemons to share with the neighbors. Lauren would insist on making me lemonade and sharing it with me. Eva would freeze lemon juice in ice trays or containers so that it could be used later in cooking or making lemonade.
When you have fruit trees like pears or lemons, you must feed them in the spring and see that they get the water they need during the growing season and protect them against pests that can harm the crop or just accept what you get if you don’t put the effort into tending to the tree’s needs. There is another task that needs to be done for the health of the tree, removing all the fruit before the dormant season.
The easy part of the picking process is picking the “low-hanging” fruit. That involves removing the ones that are easy to reach and the best-looking fruit. You will get the most help with identifying and removing them. It is much harder to get to those that are harder to reach that may be higher or even hidden back inside the limbs. Some may be hard for others to even see from their perspective. However, if left on the tree, they could keep the tree from being the best it could become. It will depend on whether you are willing to put the extra effort into something others may never notice the difference.
The last paragraph is true about fruit trees, but also true about sin in our lives. I have written about things in my life, about “then and now” or before I let my faith help me make decisions and after I gave up total control. The purpose of those examples was not to show how much better I am today than I was before but to highlight how God can lead us all to a better life. I had some “low-hanging” sins in my life, and I am happy that with the help of God and family, I was able to remove them from my life.
The tough task is removing the sin that is not visible and hard to reach because it has been there long enough to be part of the structure. When you get comfortable with the idea that others may see you as a good person and you think you have done ok, then you remember that we all fall short of the goal. God knows our every thought and there is always more to change to be able to hear what God wants to tell you. I know God does not need “me” to accomplish anything He wants to accomplish, but I “need” to do whatever it is that He will let me be involved with.
Galatians 5:22-23 New International Version
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
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