Don’t settle for little fruit

Recently, my friend Katie gave me a giant Pomelo from her yard. I’ve never had a Pomelo before, or even heard of one for that matter so I wasn’t sure what to expect. My husband cut the pomelo from all different angles and we picked, poked, scraped and prodded trying to get as much fruit out as we could. The taste was a delicious sweet grapefruit-lime flavor but after a while we got tired of all the effort it took to get all the fruit out. Later our friend Paul was over and he showed us the proper way to peel it. Although it was still a lot of work, we were able to get a much more substantial amount of fruit out of it because it was peeled properly. I made a comment to Paul about how difficult it was too peel and he said, “Yes, but that’s because there is so much more fruit inside.”

Paul was right. This was no blueberry. It was about the size of a kid’s basketball. This got me thinking…

How often do we settle for blueberry sized fruit in our lives because we are unwilling to endure the patience it requires to see some Pomelo’s? Are we settling for a little fruit when we could have “so much more” fruit in our lives?

The message this weekend was based out of Jesus’ words in John 15

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.

We can’t force fruit, fake fruit or decorate our tree with fruity embellishments. Fruit comes only from abiding in Jesus. All of the fruits of the spirit flow out of our relationship with him. As we spend time with the Lord and obey his commands, fruit will happen in our lives because we are connected to the life-giving vine.

There might be times when we get frustrated with how long it’s taking to see some fruit in our lives. I believe if we can push through those frustrating times when the vinedresser is pruning us, growing us or peeling off some layers, underneath all that, we will be able to see it was only because there was “so much more” fruit on the other side.

Blessings
Melissa Miller