Fruit Trees

"The key to suffering rightly is to see in all things the hand of a merciful and good and sovereign God and 'to live upon God that is invisible.'(Bunyan) There is more of God to be had in times of suffering than any other time." J.Piper

I want you to read these next 2 paragraphs with our souls in mind, but it is amazing that God created these trees in such a way that they need the "trials of winter cold" in order that they would produce fruit. It is also incredible to think that God has to make sure the temperature is very precise for a certain amount of days in order to bring the trees out of dormancy, but then if He allows the temperature to get too cold again after it is warm for a little while the blossoming fruit will be killed and the tree will not produce fruit that year. The tree will not die from this, but no fruit will come until the next cycle of cold and warm.

"Most hardy fruit trees need a certain amount of cold winter weather to end their dormancy and to promote spring growth. When winters are too mild, spring growth is delayed, irregular and slow, the period of blooming is extended and the possibility of frost injury increased.

Extreme cold during winter dormancy, however, may kill the fruit buds. Winter weather rarely threatens apple, pear, plum and sour cherry varieties. Sweet cherry trees are relatively sensitive to cold until they become dormant. Peach trees are very vulnerable to cold weather; peach buds can be killed by midwinter temperatures of 10 degrees F below zero. The stone fruits--cherry, peach, plum and nectarine--can lose cold hardiness due to extended midwinter warm periods. Damage to the flower buds can be extensive, especially if the warm period is followed by a very cold period."URI GreenShare

Each one of us are unique "trees" and God knows exactly what is needed in order that we would produce fruit. He prunes us perfectly- wrong pruning reduces fruit production- "Plants" us exactly where we will grow best, giving us the right amount of water and sun, sends the cold and the warm at precisely the right time and then allows the fruit to grow.

The trees in an orchard are not lauded because of their amazing fruit production, it is the orchardist who is praised when he takes some little trees and crafts them to bear lots of big, beautiful fruit. The same is true with anything that is created; the Creator gets the glory.

I love that statement, "There is more of God to be had in times of suffering than any other time". I want as much of God as I can get and I think it is true that the suffering gets more of God into our souls. It is so hard to remember that when we are in trials, but He doesn't gives us more than we can handle and they are all for our good. We have to live on those unseen things, especially when the trials keep get added to the ones that were left over from yesterday and last week...

"Oh for grace to trust Him more".