Prune Your First Fruits
Elizabeth George talks about the process of maturity — “The Old Testament term for the word gentleness, anah, describes a mature, ripened shock of grain with its head bent low and bowed down. Just think for a moment on the beauty of this word picture. As wheat grows, the young sprouts rise above the rest. Their heads shoot up the highest because no grain has yet formed. In their immaturity, little fruit, if any, has appeared. But as time passes and maturity sets in, fruit comes forth — so much of it that the burdened stalk bends and its head sinks lower and lower — and the lower the head the greater amount of fruit.”
Isn’t this crazy?
How is it that the first fruits are not the best fruits?
It actually connects very well to what I wrote on Tuesday. We must value others.
I’m not trying to say that it will be easy to value others on every occasion, it won’t be. That’s the plain and simple…medium.com
“If you want to go fast go alone.
If you want to go far go together.”
— African Proverb
It’s not about what we can do in the short term — it’s about staying power.
Anyone can do something great once but it’s the repetition that matters.
Sometimes we may initially find success and get excited. That’s great in many ways but often it doesn’t matter all too much. It’s more important to work for the long term.
When we have great success right away people (who are much wiser) often advise upon checking yourself. Take a moment — or a few days — and accept your current success. Acknowledge it and realize that your present successes promise nothing of future success.
“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” — Proverbs 4:23medium.com
Many people often get their first taste of success and think that they’re a top dog.
But then what? They crumble.
For football games, basketball games, and other sports, winning in the first half is one thing but if you cannot win the second half also — you will not win the game.
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.” — 1 Corinthians 9:24–25 NIV
Winning does not matter unless you win the true race.
Each of us have personal aspirations and ambitions.
The difficulty is identifying which aspirations are worth pursuing.
We might do some great things early on in our professional career and think that we’re on the best path ever. We may be… but the average millionaire has 7 income streams. You had better hedge your present successes by establishing other streams.
That’s why no gardener plants just one seed. They plant a number of seeds.
The first flower to bloom is hardly ever the brightest.
Remember what it means to be who you are.
Remind yourself what it is going to take to become who you were created to be.
“God has not designed one person to be better than another. Don’t waste time comparing yourself or your destiny with someone else’s. You were created for a reason. You are alive for a reason. Pursue that reason with passion and live in your true purpose.” — T.D. Jakes
“You either listen to the world or you listen to God. You can’t do both at once.” — Harrison Wendland
“We don’t go into what we don’t sow into.” — Earlie James