I remember the orange trees in our neighbor’s yard. Up the hill from our house, too high to reach and too steep to climb. For most of the year I didn’t notice the trees. As a child, I wasn’t very impressed with simple green leaves. But then, when the season arrived, those bright orange globes would catch my eye from a block away. I can recall standing at the bottom of the hill, dreaming of how I might reach them. Somehow their unreachable height made them that much more desirous.
The amazing thing was that our neighbor with the orange trees was crippled. If I recall, he had fallen a far distance down while serving on a Navy ship, damaging his spine, and losing most of the use of his legs. He walked with two crutches with arm braces. I remember being dumbfounded that he could drive. And that he could tend his orange trees. He accomplished things and created beauty in ways beyond my understanding.
This is the first thing that fruit does: It looks beautiful. Attractive. Enticing. Inviting. It’s why so many fruits are bright colors–to catch the eye of humans and animals, birds and bugs.
As Children of God, this is also what our “fruit”—the good works we do, the works of art we create, the kind ways we treat others, the patience we exhibit, the joy we display—is meant to do: be beautiful. Attractive. Inviting. Enticing.
Ultimately, attention will be drawn not to our fruit. Not to us as trees. But to the Gardener. Who accomplishes things and creates beauty beyond our understanding.