Created to Bear Fruit

I took this picture last February at the Jordan River in Israel.

So, it's been over a month since our last update... We have been rather busy getting settled into our new home (and don't worry, there's a post with pictures and lots of ridiculous stories coming soon about our homeownership beginnings), and we have been longing for warm spring weather with much anticipation. Of course, North Carolina must truly enjoy teasing this Floridian, because the weather has been anything but warm. However, this past week has been rather nice and the flowers and green leaves really do lift my spirits despite the still somewhat chilly weather. 

Interestingly enough, Joseph and I were driving to a friend's house a few weeks ago and I couldn't help but notice all of the beautiful Dogwoods in bloom. North Carolina has had a crazy, cold winter this year, and despite the temperature creeping into the 20s when it's officially spring, the trees were still blooming, the grass was turning green, and new tulips were pushing their way upward through the ground. I find that sometimes I can ask questions that have a very simple, logical explanation, but it still baffles me. I had to ask the question; "Joseph, how do the plants know it's spring?? We have had ice and snow in the last week, and yet they're still blooming!"

His answer was simple, but cut straight to the heart, "Because God created them to bear fruit." Of course, he was talking about the trees, the green grass, the tulips...but what I heard was something entirely different. "YOU were created to bear fruit." My mind raced back to Genesis chapter 1...

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth...Then God said, 'Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years'..... God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.'..... Then God said. 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.' God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, ' Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.' ..... God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. (Genesis 1:1-31)

Genesis 1 didn't quite cover all that my heart was overcome with in those few words, "God created them to bear fruit." Of course He did...but something happened... in Genesis 3... "I will greatly multiply your pain in child birth, in pain you will bring forth children; yet your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you... cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you..." (v. 16-18). Everything was broken.

As I continued to mull over Joseph's quick, well versed response, I began realizing more and more that it wasn't just an issue with being fruitful as in "grow your family" with which I was struggling. I find for me it is typical to struggle with the "be fruitful and multiply" command in the passage as we have personally struggled to grow our family through adoption and biologically. Unfortunately, I know I am not the only one whose heart experiences a mild palpitation when reading those words.

Regardless of my ability or inability to grow my family, the truth still remains: I was created to bear fruit. I began to feel shame... even the trees and the tulips obey His command, yet it is a war within me to cultivate and bear fruit... and then I remembered, "but the roses have thorns..."

Sin has affected every area of life. The earth, though it knows its Creator, the seasons, the time to bear fruit, it is affected by sin. My present struggle with impatiently waiting for my child, is evidence of this effect. Even my war with faithful obedience to the One whom I owe my life is an evidence of this effect of sin in my own heart. Of course it is a war to cultivate and bear fruit! It is also a work of the Holy Spirit that any of us should bear fruit. 

God created us in His own image; a reflection of the community we see in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. He created us for community, relationships. And it is those relationships that should be fruit bearing relationships.

We recently completed our homestudy and submitted our application to immigration to officially bring a child home. It was such a relief to get that off in the mail the other day - one step closer! In the meantime, however, I know and I trust the command the Lord has given me, "be fruitful and multiply." I have been so encouraged and blessed by the relationships the Lord in His grace has given me, the many opportunities to not only be a sister in the faith, but also to become a mother in the faith and to adhere to the greatest calling and purpose our lives can have, to make much of Christ by making disciples of all nations....

being fruitful and multiplying.