Fruit: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves.  You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions. Matthew 7:15-20 (NLT)

Trees were a big source of fun when I was little. Next door, in Grampa Kalisiewicz's yard, he had three huge pear trees and one apple tree. My little sister and I spent many hours up in those trees. The apple tree was a beautiful tree. It was the easiest tree for me to climb, so that's where I chose to be, most of the time. Unfortunately, that beautiful tree produced awful apples, so when I had a taste for something sweet, I would have to leave that tree, and head over to the pear tree. The fruit of the pear trees were delicious. I don't think I have ever tasted a pear quite as good as Grampa's since then. The last time I went home, I noticed that the trees weren't the same. As trees often do after many years, they had gotten warn out, and stopped producing pears in the same way that they used to.  Mom said she noticed the pears dwindling a few years back. She said the trees didn't look good, and then they stopped producing those sweet, delicious, juicy fruit.

In life, just as in nature, there is nothing more frustrating than being around a tree that looks good, but produces nasty fruit. It's such a disappointment, and even repulsive at times. Unfortunately, we don't always know what kind of tree we are dealing with until the fruit ripens. Often, there are signs that warn us that something is very wrong. Plagued leaves, rotten branches, attacking fungus. But once you know that your tree is bad, you don't expect much of it. Harder still is the once beautiful tree with near perfect fruit, that suddenly changes and becomes erratic. There is good fruit mixed in with the bad. You have to be very selective when choosing to consume what is being offered by this tree, and eventually it gets to be such a chore finding good fruit, that it's easier to just find another source. It's a case of a good tree gone bad, just like grampa's pears. It's a tree that you would rather avoid. Yes, you are aware of it, and it does produce some good fruit, but it is such a bother and not worth the time to sift through the rottenness to find something worth your effort. Mentally, this tree wears on us. We remember how good the tree once was, and every once in a while, we venture back to it, thinking that maybe, just maybe the tree has recovered. At first glance it looks promising, until we take a bite of the fruit, only to have to spit it out, and walk away disappointed.

I am thankful that we are able to see fruit for what it really is, and judge the tree by it's fruit. Ripe or rotten, it's unmistakable.  Being that there are orchards and orchards of trees out there, it behooves us to be selective. We need to be very careful what we choose to allow in our "garden", because it will either influence us positively or negatively, but make no mistake, it will definitely influence us. People love to say, "Judge not, lest you be judged", but here's one plain example of where God says it's good and right to judge. Not for the sake of condemning anyone, but for the purpose of protecting ourselves from bad influences. Thank you Lord for letting each fruits be seen, and guiding us every day on the path that leads to abundant life.