Still Bearing Fruit
November 2025 - Bruce Fairbairn, Elder
Although it may be a little difficult to see in the picture, this is a walnut tree in the green space near our home. More than two years ago, it was knocked down in a storm, bent down parallel to and touching the ground. However, part of its trunk is still connected to the root system and the tree is still bearing fruit, a bounteous crop of nuts for the fat squirrels in our neighborhood and other denizens of the woods. To me, this tired and beaten down walnut tree is a marvelous testament about perseverance and staying the course. Against all odds, the tree continues to fulfill the beautiful purpose for which God created it.
The Holy Spirit nurtures and produces a different kind of fruit in us—spiritual fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. I think some people feel that their ability to bear fruit is diminished as they age and find themselves unable to do all the things they used to do. However, the Bible tells us differently–that the Spirit is alive and well throughout our long lives still producing fruit. The psalmist proclaimed that God’s people will flourish and “even in old age will still produce fruit, remaining vital and green.” Isaiah reminds us that God continues to be with us, carrying and sustaining us even as our hair turns gray. (Thank goodness for that!) No matter the age or infirmity, folks can still bear much fruit by worshiping joyfully, singing hymns and praise songs loudly, praying continually, joining in Christian fellowship and Bible study, helping missions in ways large and small and providing funds for the church.
In the Upper Room, Jesus opened up the New Covenant in His body and blood, providing eternal life-giving fruit that we gratefully celebrate in communion. He told his disciples that the Holy Spirit would come and dwell within believers, instructing and guiding us always. Like the walnut tree—but in so many more profound ways–God purposed in each of us a life to bear fruit and share it with the starving world.
Bruce Fairbairn
