We are like seeds. Each of us has within us the potential to become a fruit-bearing tree, but some don’t.
The reason some don’t isn’t necessarily a personal defect. There is something external, yet partly within our control, that makes the difference.
That something is environment.
Consider a seed placed on a kitchen countertop. It can sit there for years without any sign of growth. Yet, plant that same seed in soil, give it water and sunlight, and it grows.
Like a seed, our environment ultimately influences what we become.
The right environment helps develop our God-given gifts, and when the season comes, they become fruit we can serve.
Psalm 1 speaks of this too.
It references the person who delights in God’s law, “who meditates on his law day and night” rather than “walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers” (v. 1-2 NIV).
Verse 3 says: “That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers” (NIV).
So if you believe that there is more within you (and there is), consider how you can change your environment to help bring it out.
What can you listen to less or more of? What type of people can you spend less time with or more time with?
The Wise Believer optimizes their environment and, trusting the process, bears fruit in season.
