REFLECTIONS

Fruit Bearers

Perhaps they saw it as just doing the job they were hired to do. Yet it is still interesting to ponder the difference they made in my life and the lives of my classmates who were taught by them. Those grade school teachers led us to understand the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic. But they really shaped our lives in so many other ways they didn’t even think about. The lessons learned from them reached much further than the three R’s. They were fruit bearers who reached into our souls by the way they lived.

Knowing how to read does not ensure we feel any sense of love, or experience heartfelt joy, or rest in total piece. Knowing how to write does not assure patience, imbue kindness, or instill goodness toward others. And arithmetic does not make one faithful, gentle, or self-controlled. Those nine qualities, described as the fruit of the Spirit, are taught beyond the classrooms of formal education. But in this walk through life, they are the most important.

Jesus explained it this way. “By their fruit you will recognize them. “Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. (Matthew 7:16-20)

Our importance to the world may seem miniscule when compared to the vastness of it. Like one tiny ant amidst all the ants in the world, our work seems very small. But just as those grade school teachers shaped my life and the lives of my classmates in ways they didn’t know, we can be bearers of good fruit. Though it may not seem like much, that fruit plants its seeds in those we influence. From those seeds, good trees will grow; and from those good trees, good fruit will come. Then from that fruit there will be new seeds, new trees, and more fruit. Good trees produce good fruit; and most importantly, good trees produce good fruit bearers.

And producing good fruit bearers is what our lives are all about.

You are the light of the world,

Richard +

www.reflectingthesavior.org

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