| “But, holding the truth in love, we may grow up to Him in all things, who is the Head, the Christ” (Ephesians 4:15 JND). |
| It is a wonderful experience to watch things grow, whether in a natural way, or a spiritual way. I grew up on a farm, and always enjoyed watching fruit trees and other farm plants grow. We all love to see children grow too, and mature in the right way. |
| The Lord wants us to grow too, in a spiritual way, and encourages this in His Word. But sometimes we may feel that we are not growing the way we should, and I have known a number of young people who felt that if only they lived somewhere else, or were connected with a different group of Christians, they would grow better. However, sometimes the Lord allows us to be placed where naturally we would not like to be. Let me tell you a story. |
| I grew up in southern Ontario, Canada, near the city of Hamilton. Hamilton always was, and still is, mainly an industrial city, but the land around it is some of the best farmland for growing fruit in all of Canada. The land below the so-called Niagara escarpment is sandy and easy to work with, but that on top of the escarpment is hard. I had a good friend who was much older than I (he was born in 1882!), and who owned a fruit farm on the escarpment. One day a fruit inspector came from the Ontario government, to look at his fruit. My friend saw a basket of beautiful big peaches in the back of his car, which he had gotten from a farm below the escarpment. My friend was embarrassed to show the inspector his peaches because they were so much smaller. But the inspector picked up one of his peaches and bit into it. His face lit up, and he exclaimed, “What wonderful flavor! Could I have some of them?” |
| My friend was surprised, and remarked that the inspector already had much bigger and nicer looking peaches from below the escarpment. But the inspector said, “Yes, they look beautiful, but they don’t taste nearly as good as yours!” As an inspector, he knew that good ground would grow nice looking fruit, but that the best flavor is often found in fruit grown on hard ground. |
| It is often the same in our lives. The Lord may allow us to grow up to Him in difficult conditions, but that kind of ground often produces the best fruit in our lives. Let us not complain about our situation, or wish we were somewhere else. We can produce fruit wherever we are, and even in what we feel is hard ground. (If you do not understand what the Niagara escarpment is, look it up on the internet. I do not have space to explain it here.) |
