When i heard that this wonder of a tree produced bad fruit i was shocked. The thought that a tree as beautiful as this was deemed "no good" was hard to understand. Labeling a tree based on its production rather than appearance created the following onslaught of parallels.
The aesthetic blessing bestowed on the tree was only outward beauty. The tree is great to look at, but the practicality of it is nil; worthless. i still enjoy the tree and i would be unhappy if it passed in the night (more humane than cutting its heart out and eating it), but my life would go unchanged. The same goes for us. If we aren't producing good fruit, God has no practical use for us. He still loves us, He still care for us, but we have nothing to offer Him. He takes time to look at us, enjoying knowing that He created us, but for all intents and purposes, we're worthless. Until we begin to bear fruit again, we will go unharvested, just like the heavily burdened tree.
The real meat of this analogy has less to do with the tree and more to do with the location of said tree. There is a second tree on campus. It's not nearly as tall or majestic, in fact, its short and pudgy. This tree, however, has some of the best coconuts in earshot. Once ripe, they are succulent gourds, filled to the brim with the sweetest nectar. The secret lies within the soil choices of each tree. The towering tree is rooted deeply in the taro marsh. Rich mud feeds it every growth mineral known to the island. It would be like eating one of every kind of vitamin that even hints at having growth properties. Unfortunately, the mud also has acrid and acidic attributes, hence the bad fruit. On the other hand, the shorter tree has made its home in shallow sand that provides the essential "yummy magic". Lucky for us, we have the option to choose where we put our roots. We decide each morning what kind of nutrients we want that day. Do i want to be outwardly pleasant, but worthless to God? Or, do i want to place my trust in Him, soak up the "yummy magic" that He so happily supplies, and bear good fruit?
Updates: A breadfruit leaf finally fell in front of me, but it fell upside down (bad luck) so i had to tear it up. Happy Valentines day. My kids and i have hit a wall, they are no longer interested in my teaching, and i've run out of new ideas to make my teaching more interesting (its an escalation lifestyle. They get bored, i step it up; repeat). I made 5 quarts of the most wonderful curry last night, no one else could handle the heat (new type of pepper, oops). I'm set and ready for my after mission trip to Asia, still waiting for slowpoke 1 and slowpoke 2 to buy their tickets. I don't miss snow, you aren't making me jealous, thanks for the snapchats though. its 80 and sunny here. We had no water all day yesterday, after investigation i found the hose upstream left on, flooding the area, and leaving us with no water... good thing its free?
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Bearing Fruit Part 1
As Christians we are called to bear good fruit for the Lord. We are inundated with horror stories of unprolific branches; pruned and left to wither and be burned along with the chaff (a fate as bleak as Shaun White's without his hair). Being forsaken for one season without fruiting seems harsh, dare i say, evil? Maybe that year just wasn't advantageous for your type of produce. How can we serve a God who is so eager to dispose of us the instant we become barren? We can't.
i love coconuts and analogies, so when i concocted this coconut correlation, i was beyond thrilled. Recently i've struggled with the concept of "falling out of God's favor". i understand grace, forgiveness, and second (third, fourth, fifth, sixth, etc.) chances, but none of that aids my comprehension of the concept of how easily we can become a Christmas gift on the 26th with one slip.
The outward appearance of this tree is striking. It's nearly twice as tall as the surrounding trees, is overproducing plump clumps of fruit, and the subtle arch is reminiscent of the coconut trees leaning over a sandy beach on your July calendar photo. Every part of this tree screams GOOD FRUIT, yet the tree goes unharvested. This coconut tree stands tall and winding at the end of our basketball court. It's a beautiful, moss covered tree prominently rising above the outskirts of the taro plantation. As i sat under a smaller palm's shade, chewing on sugar cane and watching the students play an uninteresting and highly defensive game of capture the flag, my eyes meandered to the majestic monstrosity of the matriarchal tree. It was heavy laden with bunches of perfectly aged nu. My coconut craving kicked in, and without hesitation i headed to the tree. Before i could stand up, teacher Ben stopped me, "no good no good." (okay, this is a direct quote. For some reason Ben likes saying "no good no good" as if he doesn't know how to speak proper English even though he IS fluent). Why was this tree no good?
To be continued....... tomorrow
Updates: Many updates, many changes. we have new people, new buildings, new appliances, and new anxieties. Sam Robinson and his wife are here for 3 months to remodel and redesign our campus. They brought a contractor and his wife and a kid from Guam to help. River's dad is also here for the week. Sam has built a new "mechanics shop"/barn/store house in the back lot (he also made the back lot. 50+ dump truck loads at $130/load). He is about to begin raising a second building for classrooms while remodeling the old building as apartments, library, and main office. Thousands of dollars of materials are sitting outside; unlocked, making me paranoid. My personal revised schedule: school 8-2, work 2-4, play hard (surf, swim, hike, etc.) 4-dark, dinner ?-?. We are re-exploring the island with Lawrence (kid from Guam) and River's dad; its fun.Vegetables do wonders for the digestive system (more expensive to eat, but so worth it). Speaking of, my kids are enamored with the digestive system, especially the bladder (apparently its a weird that you have a balloon filled with water in your body, but its perfectly normal to have a big tube filled with poop?). Thanks to Matt Aitken for the external drives filled with goodies :)
Check back tomorrow-ish for the final part of the story,
Tyler
i love coconuts and analogies, so when i concocted this coconut correlation, i was beyond thrilled. Recently i've struggled with the concept of "falling out of God's favor". i understand grace, forgiveness, and second (third, fourth, fifth, sixth, etc.) chances, but none of that aids my comprehension of the concept of how easily we can become a Christmas gift on the 26th with one slip.
The outward appearance of this tree is striking. It's nearly twice as tall as the surrounding trees, is overproducing plump clumps of fruit, and the subtle arch is reminiscent of the coconut trees leaning over a sandy beach on your July calendar photo. Every part of this tree screams GOOD FRUIT, yet the tree goes unharvested. This coconut tree stands tall and winding at the end of our basketball court. It's a beautiful, moss covered tree prominently rising above the outskirts of the taro plantation. As i sat under a smaller palm's shade, chewing on sugar cane and watching the students play an uninteresting and highly defensive game of capture the flag, my eyes meandered to the majestic monstrosity of the matriarchal tree. It was heavy laden with bunches of perfectly aged nu. My coconut craving kicked in, and without hesitation i headed to the tree. Before i could stand up, teacher Ben stopped me, "no good no good." (okay, this is a direct quote. For some reason Ben likes saying "no good no good" as if he doesn't know how to speak proper English even though he IS fluent). Why was this tree no good?
To be continued....... tomorrow
Updates: Many updates, many changes. we have new people, new buildings, new appliances, and new anxieties. Sam Robinson and his wife are here for 3 months to remodel and redesign our campus. They brought a contractor and his wife and a kid from Guam to help. River's dad is also here for the week. Sam has built a new "mechanics shop"/barn/store house in the back lot (he also made the back lot. 50+ dump truck loads at $130/load). He is about to begin raising a second building for classrooms while remodeling the old building as apartments, library, and main office. Thousands of dollars of materials are sitting outside; unlocked, making me paranoid. My personal revised schedule: school 8-2, work 2-4, play hard (surf, swim, hike, etc.) 4-dark, dinner ?-?. We are re-exploring the island with Lawrence (kid from Guam) and River's dad; its fun.Vegetables do wonders for the digestive system (more expensive to eat, but so worth it). Speaking of, my kids are enamored with the digestive system, especially the bladder (apparently its a weird that you have a balloon filled with water in your body, but its perfectly normal to have a big tube filled with poop?). Thanks to Matt Aitken for the external drives filled with goodies :)
Check back tomorrow-ish for the final part of the story,
Tyler
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