At my childhood home, we lived on a country road. Along the road but on our property, my dad had planted a peach tree. It took many years for blossoms to start and then finally one year, there was one large delicious peach that dangled from a limb near the road. I walked by it every day after school, waiting for it to be just ripe. Unfortunately, a neighbor picked it before I had a chance.
The next year, the blossoms were more abundant and the tree promised to have more fruit. The trunk was thicker, the branches almost over the road, but not quite. I watched the blossoms drop and the saw the starting of the fruit. Then one day, the tree was gone.
The township had a new ordinance that a tree so many feet from the road was to be cut down. The Peach Tree was chopped down and chipped.
If a tree bears only one fruit in its lifetime, was it a good fruitbearing tree? Even though it was ready to bear more fruit, it was never given the chance. Because of its location and a new law, it would never bear branches full of peaches.
I've thought about this Peach Tree lately and I wasn't sure why until this last week. I feel like that Peach Tree right now. Just when I was about to be in the season of giving fruit and giving it more abundantly, a new law came into place and chopped it away. I've been grieving the loss of the opportunities, freedom, growth and seeing the Spirit move.
But I won't let that stop my growth.
I'll plant another seedling.
The next year, the blossoms were more abundant and the tree promised to have more fruit. The trunk was thicker, the branches almost over the road, but not quite. I watched the blossoms drop and the saw the starting of the fruit. Then one day, the tree was gone.
The township had a new ordinance that a tree so many feet from the road was to be cut down. The Peach Tree was chopped down and chipped.
If a tree bears only one fruit in its lifetime, was it a good fruitbearing tree? Even though it was ready to bear more fruit, it was never given the chance. Because of its location and a new law, it would never bear branches full of peaches.
I've thought about this Peach Tree lately and I wasn't sure why until this last week. I feel like that Peach Tree right now. Just when I was about to be in the season of giving fruit and giving it more abundantly, a new law came into place and chopped it away. I've been grieving the loss of the opportunities, freedom, growth and seeing the Spirit move.
But I won't let that stop my growth.
I'll plant another seedling.
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