SPIRITUALITY OF BEARING FRUIT - #3

You did not choose me but I chose you. 

And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last (Jn 15:16).

SEVEN LESSONS FROM A FRUIT TREE

Lesson #3: TAKE YOUR TIME; BUT BE AT IT!

Premature fruits are not good. 

You are chosen, chosen to bear fruit. Bearing fruit is not an easy task, the Lord knows it. Do not grow impatient with yourself. Take your time to bear fruit. The Lord does not say, bear fruit fast; He only says, bear fruits that will last. So, taking time is nothing wrong. But, make sure you are at it. Taking time does not mean, just whiling time away, with distractions and self indulgences. 

There is no hurry... there's a time for everything. No one expects the fruits the day after he or she planted the tree! There is a process for everything. When things happen too swiftly, at the wish or command of others, at times there exists the danger that the roots are not that deep. It may last but for a while. As the Lord explained about the seeds that fall on the rocks, which grow fast but soon die dried due to lack of depth. Premature fruits, fruits forced to ripen, fruits that are artificially made to look more presentable...these are no good! Fruits that have gone through the entire hard process of being buds and flowers and raw fruit and then ripening to their fullness, would truly be tastier than the one's which have gone through a short cut. 

Focus is the key... being at it is all that matters. When you achieve something and what you achieve is always secondary to the way you achieve it, to the effort you had put in, and to the passion that you manifest throughout the process. Even if the final outcome happens to be a failure in the eyes of many, what counts is what has gone on in the process. Taking time is not giving into inaction or to lethargy, it is being patient and enduring inspite of moments of hardships, temptations and discouragements. Take time, grow strong and launch it firm - that is the formula to bear fruit.

Consider Jesus of Nazareth - how he was silent and patient those thirty years and how that silence and patience paid off, making his last three years such world-changing, epoch-making years! It is like the childbirth, the child has to come by itself to see the world - that is normal. Taking one's time is not a loss of focus on the mission begun, but it is a deepening and nurturing the decision to bear fruit and to worthily prepare ourselves for the same. 

We are called to bear fruit; let us take our time but never lose the focus, be at it!