I think that’s the same cluster of bananas that emerged from it’s flower’s protective covering three months ago. The baby bananas have grown in that time but their slow process makes growth almost imperceptible. In contrast, a single guava tree branch seems to yield two small harvests a week of luscious strawberry guavas.
In John 15, Jesus explains that if we remain in Him we will bear fruit while apart from Him, there’s no growth. Sometimes it’s hard for me to see the lasting Kingdom fruit in my own life–I feel stuck in the same ongoing struggle or I keep exercising a weak muscle just hoping that this cyclical pattern is an upward-moving spiral. I’m excited and encouraged when my life bears a little fruit–like a small biweekly harvest of guavas–it encourages me to keep pressing in.
But other times there’s no evident fruit for months or years. I keep doing the same old thing and start to wonder if it’s futile. Eventually some catalytic event interrupts my rhythm and like a machete swinging at the stalk, down tumbles a bunch of bananas! There are dozens… maybe a hundred! Enough to feed a small village. The JOY and sweetness of this harvest spawns an impromptu feast. Many eat and are satisfied; many contemplate the passing of time and the meaning of our days… laughter and tears are shared and the collective produce of the community makes a feast!
While I am thankful for the strawberry guavas of life–those little reminders along the journey of live that I’m heading in the right direction–I want to grow bananas! They might be slow coming and require greater patience and perseverance to seek the promise, but their yield is incredibly sweet and a moment for pause and celebration.
crossing oceans bridging cultures 