Does Your Vine Bear Fruit?

In the past eleven years, I find the things that seemed so important during my earlier years have taken a back burner to the reality of today. My focus has changed drastically as I have grown older. I seem to see the world a little clearer than I did in the past.

Someone told me today that my written meanderings have greatly improved over the years.

I thought about that for a moment. Why had my interpretation of the world around me changed?

When we are children, our insight isn’t clouded with adult worries, desires, accomplishments, or just life’s survival. We see everything around us with innocent, wide eyes of wonder.

Now, as a sixty-five year old woman, I find my childhood insight returning as my life slows and I have more time to reflect on what is truly real in my life. I see the world around me with deeper understanding.

When I was young and fell in love, I thought my love would never disappoint me but they did. It’s human nature to be imperfect. You will have your heart broken many times within your lifetime.

And there will be times when you will be the one who inflicts such pain on another. This isn’t because you are a bad person. It just means you are human.

Unfortunately, relying on other people for your joy will always have its pitfalls as they, too, are simply human.

As life passes, you will find friends, some who are only passing through your life and others who will share a lifetime with you. We are social beings and people need each other.

Don’t expect perfection within your circle of friends. Simply expect their love and friendship as you each share the joys and sorrows of everyday living.

People aren’t invincible and there will be moments when you will lose a loved one forever. Don’t dwell on that but rather cling to the time you shared and the memories made while you had them. Be glad you were afforded the opportunity to have known and loved them. Smile when they are remembered in a song, a photograph, a poem, or a time remembered.

Capture pictures with your mind of the joys of life, truly feel the pain, share the love, and laugh as often as you possibly can.

Don’t take yourself too seriously.

Learn to accept wrong, admit defeat or personal error, and always forgive freely. Remember that carrying a grudge gets heavier and heavier the longer it is held within your heart.

“Every second you remain angry is a second of happiness that you have lost forever!”

Be an encouragement to others and don’t focus so much on your own needs.

Above all, always try to find the good in people and the joy of living, even in the worst of circumstances.

I remember when a friend of mine was very sick and almost died. Once well enough, she was placed in a convalescence home to continue her recovery.

As she healed, she began to heal those around her with her words of kindness, love and Christian faith.

Before long, the nurses would gather in her room after their shifts to spend time with her and talk to her about the Lord.

Once she came home, she told me, though it had been difficult to be so sick and away from home for so long, she now knew why God needed for her to be in that place at that time. The young women to whom she witnessed during her weeks of convalescence were proof that God was at work through her, even in her darkest hour.

So, don’t allow yourself to be a useless vine, dwelling in self pity, as you walk the streets of this world. Instead, bear fruit wherever you travel so that it may be known that you are a Christian.

Begin today to give up misplaced priorities of this world and channel your walk with the Lord, focusing on His blessings.

Bear His fruit of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and self control.

Love your fellow man and fill his need for you to share God's love.

Find joy in every day that the Lord has given you on earth.

Discover the peace of knowing God is in control and all can be right when your hand remains in His.

Find a way to be gentle and handle the needs of others with longsuffering, lending a helping hand in any way that you can to lesson their needs.

The goodness of the Lord will surely follow you when your path is the path He sets before you. Success in this life is finding the will of God and following His lead. Reach out and accept the wonder of His plan for your life.

This life is riddled with trials and hard work. But when we remember the trials the Lord Jesus suffered for us, it is little for us to pay in return.

For, you see, people are not concerned with how much you know, own, accomplish, or tell them. But they do notice how much you care and the Christian example you present in your own life.

Our lives should represent God’s perfection, faithfulness and love in our walk with others.

Always look for God’s grace. If you are focused on the road ahead with your eyes on

Him, the grace you seek will surely be right there to guide you.

And when His grace is guiding your steps, your life will reflect the joys of his gifts to you.

I am thankful my friend feels my writing has improved and others enjoy reading my words.

However, I am happier still that I now see the world more clearly and that God has been able to find ways to use me through words of thought scripted on paper.

Everyday, He teaches me new ways in which I may bear fruit.

There is no clear road map to our lives and I have no idea where mine will lead next. I see my imperfections every day and I see myself fall short of his glory in so many ways.

But I do know that I want Him to walk beside me, guide me, and continually remind me that I am not perfect and will always need His perfection and His love to make me whole.

That knowledge becomes stronger with each passing year.

He Is On The Bench
Why do we, as adults, tend to make it so difficult on ourselves when God is right there beside us all the time, just waiting to be invited into our lives?

Reap Your Destiny
No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our lives are made. It comes silently, sometimes not even noticed, as choices are made daily by all of us. The day we are born, nature is at work. Character and destiny are her handiwork. She gives us love and hate, jealousy and reverence. All that we possess is the power to choose which impulse we decide to follow.

Lasting Happiness
It is said, to make a man happy, you must, rather than add to his possessions, subtract from the sum of his desires. In other words, you must desire less and be happy with the things God has given you.