This month’s moment is by Kristijan Kalinov, a pastor of a charismatic evangelical church in Skopje.
Three years ago I found myself needing to learn how to take care of fruit trees. My neighbour offered to teach me how to prune. He is an experienced gentleman and has pruned thousands of trees in his life.
When he came over he saw my apricot and cherry tree next to one another. The apricot tree was in full bloom with pink and peachy flowers. It looked glorious. The cherry tree had nothing on it. No blossom.
He said, "I will only prune the cherry tree. Its too late to prune the apricot. If I do it now, it will take away any chance to give you even that little bit of fruit in this season."
I thought to myself, "Little bit of fruit? This tree looks like it will give an abundance of fruit."
He pruned the cherry tree and it looked so barren and sad next to the blooming apricot.
* * *
A few months later the apricot tree gave four apricots . . . and the cherry tree was so heavy with cherries that the branches were starting to snap. My kids and all their neighborhood friends were spending every day feasting on it and there was still more than we could harvest.
During those months, every coming and going, these two trees were reminding me of the biblical lesson of "appearing fruitful vs. being pruned and giving fruit".
As I walk through the streets in my city this autumn and see the trees being stripped of their beauty, I wonder what reminder God is giving t me to let go of in order to be truly fruitful? What only appears fruitful in my life? What does He, as the most qualified gardener, want to "cut down" from my life, in order for me to be truly fruitful in His sight?
I wonder if you too, would join me in this ordinary liturgy and ask God the same questions as well?