She tells me that the mango tree's first fruiting was abundant. She also says that her gardeners ate a lot of that abundant fruit and she wasn't too happy about it.
This year, she says, the harvest is abysmal in comparison. She has deliberately refrained from calling in the gardeners just so she can have more of the fruit to herself and her family (myself included).
This morning she was staring out at the mango tree from the kitchen and said, "you know, maybe the harvest is small this year because I haven't allowed anyone else near the tree. The old people used to say that the more people eat from a fruit tree, the more fruit it bears."
I looked out at the tree and pondered for a second. "How does the tree know a lot of people are eating from it?"
"It's a living thing; it knows."
Later that day, as I took a shower, looking out the window at the top of the mango tree, the conversation with my aunt replayed in my mind. And it occurred to me that that fruit trees do not eat of their own fruit. Their only concern is to produce fruit that other people can enjoy.
Galatians 5:22-23 is about living for others, not ourselves. Of making sure that our neighbours are fed, and the more neighbours we feed, the more fruit we bear.
Spiritual stagnation is a result of selfishness.
"If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself,' you are doing well". James 2:8.
And we know by ourselves, we're unable to love our neighbour -
"They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good." Psalm 14:1b.
But in Christ, we can love.
Moral of the story, put on Christ so you can bear fruit for your neighbours.
"... for the Lord is pleased with such sacrifices.“ Hebrews 13:16.
