Tag: count your blessings

By our fruit

I planted an apple tree in my front yard a few years ago. Last summer I was thrilled to get the first apple. This year nothing. It is still little so I’m assuming in time it will bear fruit. This summer there was no way to identify it as an apple tree (for non-tree experts).

The crab apple in the back yard has blossoms that look similar to any cherry blossom. And yet, it produces little tart apples. The fruit is what defines the tree.

My youngest daughter told me about a conversation she and some group members had during a class discussion. I listened as she explained everyone’s positions, what she said and on. But near the end she said something that made me sit up and take notice. After class one member of the group came up to her and asked, “Are you a Christian?” Mari said that she is. God has a way of reminding us of our greatest blessings!

Matthew 12: 33 Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.

Trust in the Lord

We are built to see the negative. We can have 100 positive things happen and one negative. This one will toss our world and cause us to fall apart. The negative occurrences occupy our memories, affect our moods and even impact our outlook.

Some of these negatives are bad and indeed should impact our world. But sometimes, we give them more head space than they deserve. How do we combat this propensity to see the negative?

We need to look for the positive. We need to look for God’s hand.

Late Saturday evening our boiler stopped working. We were frustrated, unsure of what to do. It was late so we turned it off. We have radiant heat, so it meant no hot water and no heat in the house. I was crushed. Another expense. Another problem. I was reflecting on the advice I read earlier in the day, to hand our troubles to God. I thought, “Well God I’ve handed you a stack, here is another.” Wondering if he’d ever help with any of the that pile.

Then I started to think, “Well at least it happened now and not mid-January.” And then, “If there is a problem it would be great to get it fixed before winter.” Somehow the problem took a different turn. Was it a pain? Yes. Was it frustrating? Yes. But, there was still so much for which to be thankful.

Jeremiah 17:7 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.”