"Pull that Peach!!"

Have you ever heard it said that married folks start looking alike, talking alike, and dressing alike after being together for so long?  I find it's true in my love story with Steve. 

For a while now we have not only been completing each other's sentences, but often before the words are formed on one's tongue, the other is already mouthing the response that was on the verge of being spouted.  We laugh and feel a deep contentment that we know one another so well and there is such a security in our relationship that I feel soon we won't even have to chat to one another; we'll just gaze into each other's eyes and read the thoughts going on in the mind of the one being looked upon.

It's also funny how a family will have the same gestures, the same expressions, and the same wit.  These characteristics are inbred, sure, but they are also copied and mimicked and picked upon by the extending family so that once again, communication is easy and not forced, not fake, and not phony.  The only real drawback to it is when the words that come out or the gestures expressed are those that are negative rather than the good we try to instill in our loved ones.

Disciples of Jesus are known by their fruit.  I've been pondering that these past sixteen or so hours.  I've been wondering how so many can spend so much time with Christ, be brought up in His house, learn His teachings, sing songs about Him, and yet...and yet, there's something missing.  Oh sure:  they can sing the songs, word for word, and not miss a beat.  They can quote the scripture passage in the KJV and/or other translations, as well as cite the chapter and verse.  They can walk the walk, talk the talk but...but somehow it seems...off.  Their fruit is not ripe.  The color is not quite what it should be.  The taste is one of bitterness rather than sweetness.  Rather than the words of Christ flowing smoothly, they are more of the recitation variety, incorporated flagrantly into language instead of being a sweet aroma that rolls naturally off of the tongue and leaves a delightful fragrance behind.

If I as a woman who has been married to the same man for over thirty-two years can know my husband's thoughts before they are often evident to him, can predict his moods by the circumstances around him, and can often voice for him what gets tangled up in his tiny little brain, how much more does Christ do this for me?  And since Christ is so big, so great, so awesome, and since He has been a part of my life for longer than Steve has, shouldn't I be able to reciprocate and know His thoughts?  I Corinthians 2:16 tells me I can.  Acts 11:26 tells me that Jesus' followers were called by His name because they acted so much like He did.  If I am truly His, shouldn't you be able to see that without me having to go around and profess it, wear it on my shirt or jewelry, or by my scripture posts all over places where it's meant to be seen--by others?

In conclusion, I want to ask you today:  is your fruit ready to be eaten by others?  Is it peaked to perfection (makes me think of that Yoplait commercial where that woman yells "Pull that peach!"  at just the right moment).  Examine yourselves.  Is your flavor sweet, sour, or bitter?  That's the taste you are leaving in other's mouths when they consider you, when they consider me.  Do you need some pruning, some fertilizing, and/or some water?  Maybe you need to have more Sonshine on you?  Whatever the condition your tree is in today, I encourage you while you still have time this season to check up.  Don't wither on the vine.  Don't dry up.  Lastly, don't be unfruitful.  

"Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude."  Colossians 2:6-7.

Let's pray!

Dear Lord, as we come to You today and reflect on our selves, we ask You to point out to us our flaws.  Reveal our weaknesses and build us back up in Your strengths.  Multiply our harvest, Father, so that we may bring honor to You is my prayer, asked in the name of Jesus my Saviour.  Amen.

No rotten tomatoes here

Good afternoon.  As I mowed earlier, my eyes were drawn to the color at the edge of the house.  See it?  The first picture?  Although this tomato plant was put into the ground later in the season, it is still blooming.  Picture number two shows the harvest it is now putting out, here in mid-October!  But, sadly, picture number three shows...one piece of bad fruit.  Not so bad right?  One out of seven?  Hmn.

Late bloomers.  Some of us don't start the Christian walk until our later years.  And once the Son shines on us and our roots start to grow, we produce fruit.  But maybe because we came into the game later in life, every thing cannot be perfect.  Each piece of fruit will not be suitable for consumption.  Don't let that one "bad apple" spoil the whole bunch, friends.  Don't think that because not all you yield are useful that your labor is in vain.  Sometimes--in spite of your best intentions--some of your crop is going to be bad.  But that doesn't mean that you are.

As you ponder these words today, I want to encourage you to examine yourselves.  Is your fruit ripe?  Is it in need of some more time on the vine?  Does it need just a little more sunshine from your window sill, where it is protected from the bugs of the world, or has the blight taken it out of the picture?  "A man is known by his fruits," said Jesus Christ in Matthew 7:16.  Go harvest your crops.  You can't save them all but you can nurture the ones in your care.

Let's pray!

Dear Lord, I've been wondering and pondering on the latest event in my life that is going to be evidence of the fruit You have sown in me.  Am I like that one tomato that looked so good on the outside but then, when I am turned over, my insides are full of rottenness?  Am I one thing to some, inviting them in, teaching them about You, but so filled with filth when examined closely?

Oh Lord!  I'm struggling with this one!  Sometimes the forces of nature are just too much for one to bear continuously.  Like that tomato when it first began, full of promise, sometimes the world and its sin come in and destroy from within.  Help me, I pray, sweet Father, to bear fruit that is worthy of Your sacrifice.  Show me what to do or keep me on Your window sill and shine some more into me until my time of ripening is nigh.  In Jesus' precious name I pray.  Amen.