About that conference I attended last week for the leaders over the Protestant schools, they had some interesting illustrations that have stuck with me.
The first was, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”
This I had heard but someone added, “But there are not enough freezers to keep the elephant preserved until we can eat it, so we need to get busy eating.” This was to emphasize the urgency with which we need to work to improve these schools for the sake of the children and the glory of the Lord.
The second illustration struck me personally. It was a picture of two trees, one with no fruit and one with lots of fruit. The question was made, “How do you get fruit on both trees? Do you cut fruit from the one and glue it to the one with none?” Obviously that sounds ridiculous! The fruit would die. Instead we need to change something about the environment of the tree without to encourage it to grow like the fruitful tree.
It is ridiculous to think about cutting off fruit and glueing it on to the other. However, I have been guilty of doing that very thing in my own Christian walk. I have seen others with a meek countenance and read of its virtue and tried to make myself be meek in my response to others. It never seems to work very well. I was trying to glue fruit onto my tree. Instead, what I should have been doing was seeking how to make the changes and praying for the work of the Spirit to bring about real change.
If you are like me and are trying to glue fruit onto your tree, just stop. Instead let us commit together to seek the Spirit for how we can grow and be fruitful.
No comments:
Post a Comment