His Fruit is Sweetest

—A fictional narrative story —

One morning, I decided to plant seeds for a strawberry bush. Confident and excited about my new green thumb adventure, I poured every drop of my time into this summer plant project.

“Hmmm it doesn’t look quite right,” I ponder in confusion, as the plant begins to slowly mature, though. “Where are my ripe red strawberries?They’re not growing!” I had my heart set on making sweet jams, strawberry short cake, and homemade ice cream all summer. I had inspiration tacked to my walls and recipes already sprawled throughout the kitchen. I prayed for my luck to turn & the strawberries to still blossom. 

Well, time went on… I kept watering my plant  in faith but my hope in my strawberry bush was surely dwindling… “what a waste of seed,” I began to think. But little did I know God had other plans…

He wasn’t growing me a bush at all. No wonder it looked a little different. I finally realized He wanted to give me trees instead. 

Trees to give me shade from the scorching summer sun, trees I could climb like a little kid, trees to give me the best citrus imaginable… so now I look up at my orange grove that grew and thank God for surprising me, and giving me a different plant with fruit not on the ground, but fruits that tower above my head. 

Alas my summer recipes have changed… but I began to find new ideas. Ones that turned out to my surprise, even better. No more strawberry jams, but orange marmalades. No more berry ice cream but orange blossom sorbets. And rather than seasonal shortcakes, my neighbors and i now enjoy fresh squeezed orange juice every day. 

May I always plant seeds in obedience to Christ’s command, but remain confident and reassured that God is the One at work in tending to their growth. He decides what blooms, and when… and thank goodness, for His fruit is always far sweeter.