The Fruit That Defines Us

The fruit we produce remains long after we are gone.

I recently discovered that my fig tree had produced a second round of fruit. Needless to say, I was delighted. We have had that tree for a decade or more and it wasn’t until this year, that it produced a lot of fruit. But, several weeks later, when it produced a second round, I was amazed.

As I popped one of the figs into my mouth, I instantly thought of my cousin Leonard. He had a gigantic fig tree in his yard and he always let my sister and I eat those figs. He went up to heaven years ago, but that fig made me think of the wonderful times I had with him and his wife, Janice.

As I walked a cross the yard to pick up a limb that had fallen, I noticed a muscadine vine climbing on my fence. Unlike the fig tree that I had watered and fertilized, it was wild. I didn’t plant it, but it still had some pretty purple berries on it. I picked a few and took one to my daughter.

As we both ate one, I commented how the taste of muscadines always reminds me of picking scuppernongs with my mama and my sister. We used to spend hours every fall, harvesting them and eating as many as we picked.
My daughter commented how they reminded her of her Mommy Dot, my hubby’s mother. I had forgotten about her huge scuppernong vine, but my grown daughter hadn’t. Mommy Dot had long ago gone to be with Jesus, just like Janice and Leonard, but I’ve no doubt she would be thrilled to be remembered through that sweet fruit.

I thought of hose figs and the muscadines long after my daughter went back to school. I thought about how we often work so long and hard, that we begin to wonder if we will ever see fruit and then sometimes, unexpectedly, we have more than we know what to do with.

But, I was also reminded that sometimes, we get blessed with fruit that we didn’t even plant, like those muscadines. That fruit is something to be thankful for as well.

But, I think what stuck with me most, is that we are remembered by the fruit we help to grow and harvest long after we are gone. Is it sweet like patience, kindness, forgiveness and love or is it bitter like anger, pride and selfishness?

The beautiful truth is, we get to choose. Some figs and muscadines reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂