Maple Trees

Maple Trees

If you live near any maple trees, you know that this has been a good year for whirleybirds, the seed pods that fly off maple trees in the spring. In fact, calling it a good year could be an understatement, they are everywhere in record breaking numbers, springing up in gardens, gutters, sidewalk cracks, and, in our case, all over the yard. Without exaggeration, we have several thousand (no, that is not a typo) maple trees growing in our yard, right in the middle of our lawn, all about 3 inches tall. It's one of those perfect storm scenarios with the right amount of rain, the right temperatures, the right soil conditions, and having lots of maple trees. If we stopped mowing, we have the makings of our own personal forest.

But it is a lesson in fruitfulness that is worth examining and that can be a source of hope to each of us. In Luke 8:8,15 Jesus was talking about our being fruitful in the parable of the sower:

"Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop a hundred times more than was sown. The seed on good soil stands for those with a good and noble heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop."

Being fruitful is God's desire for each of us and it is available to us if we will cultivate the right conditions in our hearts. In the parable of the sower, Jesus warned us about several things that will keep us from being fruitful. The first was a hard heart that God's Word couldn't penetrate. One evidence of a hard heart is when we have an area in our lives that is untouchable, our spouses or children can't mention it, our friends can't mention it and our pastor can't mention it. Hosea tell us to "break up your unplowed ground" if we are to experience growth and fruitfulness.

Another warning that Jesus gave was about allowing life's worries, riches and pleasures to so crowd our heart that there is not room for the good things of God to grow to maturity and bear fruit. As a person weeds their yard or garden, we want to weed out of our lives anything that limits our fruitfulness and our effectiveness as Christians. In each of us, there are some things that just have to go if we're going to accomplish our dreams and goals.

Wanting to make a difference and wanting to help others are noble ambitions but the conditions of our heart have to be right. Create in your own life, through your choices, decisions and attitudes, the "perfect storm" for being the fruitful Christian the Lord wants you to be.

God bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church