Fruit Trees

Michele and I prepared a spot inside a deer fence, and planted fruit trees. 

I found it amazing that when you purchase fruit trees, all you get is a 4 foot long stick. 

The stick doesn’t look like much. 

As I dug holds to the prescribed depth, Michele carefully put nutritious compost and water in for the roots to draw from.   

We are a couple weeks into our fruit tree adventure, and already I notice green buds and tiny leaves showing up.

The trees require an amazing amount of protection, not only from deer and gophers, but also from ants and all sorts of hungry bugs that would like to feast on the tender new trees. 

I find myself studying pesticides to see what I can do to protect the little trees and give them a fighting chance for survival. 

My friend Marty has quite an orchard.  And he was telling me that if I water too much, the roots will rot. And if I over-fertilize, the trees will overdose and die.  There is more to this than I ever imagined. 

Marty has already began coaching me on the fall pruning responsibilities.  The removal of dead branches, shaping and forming the branches to insure a good harvest the next year. 

This whole process reminds me of caring for new Christians. 

They require protection until they know God’s Word well enough to recognize false teaching.  And they require protection until their faith has grown to the point where they rely on the Holy Spirit’s leading. 

They require healthy nutrition to insure they have a strong foundation and deep roots in God’s Word.  They need to be fed “the milk of the Word” until they have a firm grasp of the basics.  If you dump too much “meat” on them too fast, they become discouraged and miss much of the vital foundation laying process.

They require protection from predators.  Satan has an army of detractors that thrive on causing confusion and false teaching.  Satan likes to push new believers faster than they are ready.  This puts them in danger because they don’t have a spiritual foundation that will stand in storms and testing.  You will know if this is happening because they tend to “major on the minors”.  They focus on insignificant divisive things that leave them weak and vulnerable and fail to grasp the vital meat & potatoes that God provides for their spiritual health.

I could go on with this but a passage of God’s Word does a wonderful job of explaining this in Matthew 13:

³ He told many stories in the form of parables, such as this one: “Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seeds.⁴ As he scattered them across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them. ⁵ Other seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. ⁶ But the plants soon wilted under the hot sun, and since they didn’t have deep roots, they died. ⁷ Other seeds fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants. ⁸ Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted!

¹⁸ “Now listen to the explanation of the parable about the farmer planting seeds: ¹⁹ The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message about the Kingdom and don’t understand it.Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that was planted in their hearts. ²⁰ The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. ²¹ But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word. ²² The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced. ²³ The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” Matthew 13: