One night last week I fell in to bed. I was completely exhausted but I couldn’t seem to turn off my brain. For some reason, Galations 5:22-23 kept running through my mind…the fruits of the spirit.

“For the fruits of the spirit are:

(Sorry, we have no pictures of our family displaying self control. Please enjoy this perfectly normal photo of Davis just being Davis instead.)

I turned this verse over and over in my mind and what really started to bug me was this: these days I feel like my life is markedly unfruity. Lately, I think I would be very hard pressed to claim that my life is really characterized by these fruits.

A more honest claim would be this: Anxiety, Impatience, Frustration, Irritation and Way Too Busy.

So I laid in bed and fretted over my lack of fruitiness. And finally, I just got up and sat on the couch to think and pray and read my Bible.

There I sat, praying “Lord please help me to do better. Please help me to do more. Please show me how I can produce more fruit.”

And our Lord, in His great kindness and mercy, directed me to a verse that I have never before taken note of. He sent me to Hosea 14:8:

“I am a pine tree. Your fruitfulness comes from me.”

And then I sat on the couch, in the dark and cried. Because who am I that the King of the Universe should care enough to speak to me so directly? Who am I that He should be mindful of me?

OF COURSE my fruitfulness comes from Him. I can’t be better. I can’t do more. I can’t produce fruit in my own strength. I need only to stay connected to the Vine. My fruitiness, and everything else, comes from Him alone.

I'm sure you've heard it before but I'll say it again... “Jesus plus nothing equals everything.”