I love the early morning.  I love the light as the sun rises; the birdsong; the peace and tranquillity before the daily hum of life begins.  I am energised by it.  It is at these times, when I am out in the early sunlight, that I feel closer to God than at any other time.  It is now that I am inspired to talk to Him; to listen; to hear and to write.  Such times colour my days with light and life; with joy and hope.  This little passage was written at such a time as this as I sat and drank in the beauty of the scene before me.   And so followed a Spiritual realisation.  I hope God will use these words to bless you in some way.

Oranges and Lemons

Spread out below me is a panorama of peace – the only sounds are birdsong and the sigh of the wind which carries, from far away in a distant valley, the chiming of a church bell early on this Sunday morning.  The young orchards patchwork the hillsides, verdant and lush from the recent rains.

Each tree is grafted onto sturdy root stock which reaches deep into the soil and draws in all the nourishment the tree requires to bear fruit; and each tree shows promise of its crop.  Miniscule oranges, clementines and lemons, no bigger than walnuts at this time of the year, cover the trees.  Some will drop through Nature’s selection of the finest; some will become diseased in spite of all the farmer’s efforts, but some will ripen and colour and become export quality fruit, oranges and lemons keenly sought by those in cooler climes.  Today, in this early morning sunlight which accentuates the blue dam in the valley below, the process of maturation continues.  Not visible day by day, but inexorably occurring, life is evolving through hard times and good.

How often in the living Word of God we read of trees; of God being the Tree and ourselves the branches; of crops of Spiritual fruit growing towards maturity; of roots drinking deep from the Word, Love and Power of the eternal Father?   Each of us is grafted onto the sturdy rootstock of God.  Each of us shows the promise of ripening fruit.  Will we let the Farmer tend us, nurture us, feed us?  Or will we resist so that our crop of fruit falls to the ground, unused, unusable?

Here, on this sun-drenched veranda, on this early morning, I have a brief glimpse of the care and love God pours into our lives, just as the famer cares for his crop of oranges and lemons.    The trees today stretch our their branches to the sun, revelling in the early morning dew which sparkles on each leaf, responding to the nurturing they receive.

Christ-followers must do the same if we are to bear fruit for the Father – stretch out our arms and reach continually for Jesus, moment by moment; revel in the life-giving dew of the Word of God, morning by morning; and so bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit, day by day.