No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers.
- Luke 6:44

Imagine you’re running through an early-fall corn maze. You see dried stalks on your left and your right. Every so often you see some unharvested corn. And then, out of nowhere, you see a corn stalk that’s producing a huge crop of raspberries and coconuts. That would be weird, right?

God designed the universe to have some measure of predictability. This is why science works. And this is a good thing.

Corn stalks naturally produce corn. And the “fruit” that’s produced by the stalk of corn gives the corn its identity. Even though the corn stalk is more stalk than corn, the corn is what gives it its identity. The same is true for us.

You might know someone who’s hospitable or generous. The fruit of their hospitality and generosity shapes the way people identify them. They are known by the fruit of their lives.

Take some time today for a reflective exercise. What kind of fruit is your life producing? If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be: an anger tree, a funny tree, a kind tree, a generous tree?