Santa always fills my wife Leisa’s stocking with fruit and gives all the rest of us candy. He’s been doing that for her since she was a kid. The first year of marriage, he didn’t for some reason — but he hasn’t missed a year since.
Who wants a big apple in your stocking when you could have Whoppers or Snickers bars? If I get my hands on an apple, I’ll slice it up, throw away the core, and dip it in caramel. Now that’s a snack. I guess Santa just understands what good fruit can do for you, as opposed to candy bars.
What do you see when you see an apple? Is it just a snack, or is it something more? The apple is not intended to simply be a snack. The apple was also produced to plant an orchard. Every apple contains about five seeds. Each seed has the potential of producing a tree that will produce an orchard of trees and a multitude of apples.
It takes work to cultivate an orchard. Trees take time to grow to a point where they produce fruit, and some never grow. Ultimately, it is impossible to do without the help of your Heavenly Father.
Two hundred years ago, nine people got together and planted a seed. The South Carolina Baptist Convention was birthed, and God used it to produce a harvest of hundreds of thousands of changed lives because of cooperative missions and education.
We stand on the shoulders of men and women who sacrificed in their local churches to give generously to send missionaries across the state and around the world. There were times of drought, turmoil, and dissension. These courageous leaders did not quit and continued to cultivate a flourishing orchard.
Now it’s your turn. What will you sacrifice to send more missionaries to the world? Where are you willing to go to tell others about Jesus? There is still more we can do, because every life is yet to be saturated by the hope of the gospel.
The next time you drive by an orchard, think about those who planted it long ago. They never tasted of its fruit. It is our time to expand the orchard so that the next generation can finish the task.
Don’t get distracted by the candy. Focus on the core. An orchard lies inside.