Greed…

 Greed….

One of the hardest things I have to do with my fruit trees is deciding how to thin the fruit…

This year between frosts, my peaches were pollenated and I think every flower turned into a fruit…so the limbs look almost like grapes on a vine, they are so thick with fruit…

But, last year, not nearly as many, but still too thick to grow to their full potential, I was greedy and didn’t thin the fruit…consequently one side of the poor tree broke off because there were too many peaches left on the limbs…

I don’t like to pick and choose which ones stay or are picked off and thrown away…but, when thinned, the peaches grow so much better and hopefully no more broken branches…

I have habits that need to be thinned and pruned…and thrown away…they have blossomed out of “nowhere” and grow quickly…until I realized or the Spirit comes in with His truth and starts thinning them out…throwing them away…I grow so much better, transforming into a  better place…more fruitful….of more use…

There are times, I don’t want to let go too easily…greedy, holding on for dear life those faults, habits which encumber growth…and I have to be broken….wounded from my strife,  greed…

So as I thin the fruit, I look to myself and ask “what now?, which part of myself needs that same “thinning”?”   Which part needs growth to be fruitful? …the Spirit always has an answer in truth…

Thank YOU that you mold and transform us daily….

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

Romans 12:2-3

My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold, and my yield than choice silver.

Proverbs 8:19

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Galatians 5:22-24