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?
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