We’ve got fruit trees – some are bearing great amounts of fruit and others are barren, over pruned, or over grown. The other day we drove to the land to pick some apples. We have a small grove of apple trees. They’re big and overflowing with leaves. Their trunks are cracked and worn, like they’ve been there for many years.
Right in the middle of the big apple trees was one small tree – different and filled with fruit. It delighted us. Almost ready for the picking.
This tree is small, sort of looks a bit haphazard, with a couple of branches sticking out of a small trunk, almost like it was planted by accident. It’s not full or robust. To me, looking at the landscape, it almost seems to have landed there by accident. And they’re peaches not apples. Right in the middle of three or four apple trees is one small peach tree – flourishing.
It clearly belongs even if I’m not sure how it got there, or who planted it, how it landed on our piece of property. It’s there and the soil, the landscape, the way its been tended has brought it to this place with lots of lush fruit.
I suppose it would be easy for me to feel like an out of place peach in an orchard of apples. I stand out, my accent is funny, I see the world differently than those around me. Chile is one of the most class-oriented countries in the world, and I can’t stand inequality. I was born with an internal radar for injustice and inequality and I haven’t been able to turn it off – it’s lead to quite a few table arguments and classroom debates. (All over the world) And yet here I am, meeting wonderful people, enjoying the landscape, sometimes chafing inside of difficult circumstances, but present and learning to live here.
We can be different and still belong somewhere. Simply because we are not the same as those around us doesn’t mean we’re in the wrong place. Sometimes it’s the very fact that we don’t look the same or talk the same or act the same that make us belong all the more.
You belong where you’re planted. You belong where you set down your roots and get about bearing fruit for other people to enjoy. Sometimes it’s necessary to uproot and replant, but wherever you are is where you belong. It’s right there that God intends to cultivate your soil, tend and trim your branches. You don’t have to change your fruit to belong in an apple grove and you don’t have to go on the hunt for peaches. I’m a peach tree among apples and if I’m okay with that, the apples will be too. Some might wonder what we’re doing here, wish that we’d go back where we came from, and that’s okay.
Most of us over the course of our lives will feel at different times like we are in the wrong place at the wrong time. Most of us will have days or seasons or even decades when feel like we don’t belong, or that we don’t fit in. Who says we’re supposed to fit in? Who says that fitting in means we belong? You go about your life tilling the soil in front of you, loving the people around you, gently bearing the fruit you’ve got inside you to bear – and people will find you, people will appreciate what you’ve got to give and delight in the very fact that your fruit is unique.
Be the peach in the apple grove … be a pear tree among peaches …. bear the fruit that’s inside you to bear.
Tell me about belonging…. or not belonging. I’d love to hear.
Much love,
Tina
Thank you for the encouragement. I identify with feeling out of place at times and your piece spoke to my heart. It’s okay to be out of place. Thank you.
I am so glad it encouraged you. You are such a gem and as I’ve listened and read your writing, I think your voice will go far… Gentle and calm, kind and patient your voice will nurture hard and insecure hearts.
“You belong where your planted.” Yes, indeed. I’ve been in Eburg for a year and a half, my home for nearly a year. But I have struggled to feel rooted to this community, this home, anything for that matter except my people{Gary and the boys}. Finally this past week I had a moment while I was laying in bed thinking about summer and what I wanted our yard to look like. I imagined myself under a grape arbor on our deck, sheltered from our neighbors eyes and the heat of the summer. The grape arbor doesn’t exist and in my mind I know it will take a very long time for it to grow. But finally I’m willing to take the time to put in the plants and tend them for years to come. I’m ready for a vision that involves staying in one place for a very long time. Though, truthfully I keep wondering where we will be in a year or two but mainly out of habit. The other day I heard a quote that went something like this…”In order to make an impact you must have roots”. I’ve been thinking about that…roots. Putting down roots…it really is a choice…and when we do put them down we belong. We become part of the landscape and eventually part of what is expected or perhaps what is the most delightful of surprises.
Jenn – it’s so good to hear from you, especially to hear that are rooting down and seeing things that will only come in the future – grapes growing on a vine. I don’t have this yet. It is so encouraging to know that maybe one day I’ll wake up and realize that I can see – with the eyes of the heart – something that will only come if I plant it – if I stick around. I mean, we are here and I want to be here, but the heart speaks another language and takes time to open wide and pour out. Thank you – it will come for me, I just need to be patient and till the soil.
I love you and miss your wise heart.
T
I found my heart this morning longing for some time with you, so I poured myself a cup of coffee and got caught up on your blog…..pretending my computer screen was you! It was almost as good as having you here! I thank God for giving you the gift of putting so much of what I/we feel into words, for perceiving the wisdom He has to reveal to us through His creation as well as His hand through our everyday lives. I can see the wrestling match of your life this past year…all of the changes. The choice to face the days where you thought “what am I doing here?”, and then continually putting it all, once again, at the feet of Jesus. Entrusting it all to Him. The good and bad, the joy and sorrow. Allowing Jesus to continue weaving it all into the fabric of your life. Accepting. Yet, as only our little peach tree can do so well, always striving and pushing for more…and more! This, to me, is “tending the ground right in front of you.” Sometimes it seems hard as stone and sometimes it gives way quite nicely. So sometimes your hand is enough and other times only a jack hammer will do. Either way, it is what it is, and that is ok. Someone asked me the other day “how do you know if your bearing fruit?”. I think if we just keep tilling the soil with our eye firmly fixed on Him, eventually, in the fullness of time…it will come. And we will be the most surprised of all by its appearing! Well, I must go…I have some fruit trees that need pruning. I love you dear friend!
I was just thinking about calling you yesterday – because I too, need some Vick time. I miss you so very much.
And I think of you often and relish in your life of fruitfulness. You live a rich and beautiful life, you’ve tended your garden well. Much love,
Tina
Tina – may I quote you at Women’s Retreat this weekend? Honestly. I am leading worship and as I read this I sensed that someone there might need to hear it. Let me know and thank you for leaning into what God has for you. It blesses me and encourages my heart. – K
Of course! What an honor. Thank you. Very much. Pray for me as I pray for you … have a blessed and rich weekend. Be bold. Be kind. Be true.
Much love. Tina
thank you so much – you’re mom is giving her testimony – I think it’s going to be a really great weekend.
Hi Tina,
Proud of you! Love your thoughts on this. I pray it’ll touch hearts and lives, so more precious people will be encouraged to be who God made them to be, wherever they are!
So good to hear from you. Yes, we will pray this together.
This reminds me so much of that tree in the front yard that Lucas worked so hard to plant.
It also brought to mind the walnut and pecan trees that my sister and I planted in front of our house in Texas when we were children. My parents moved away almost 15 years ago but there was such peace going back last summer and seeing that they still stand. The passage of time and change of seasons of life takes us to new places but the time we spend in each place we pause leaves a lasting legacy.