My dear friend at work asked me several weeks ago if I’d like some apples for cooking and baking. Of course I said yes. This week she delivered. I have more apples than I know what to do with, but they are straight from her apple trees and I know come mid-January I will be thankful for the apple butter, the dried apples and applesauce that I plan to make this weekend.

Two full baskets of apples!

Here are a few facts about apples that you may or may not know.

Apples are one of the easiest fruits to pick and use.  They can be eaten fresh, cooked, canned, frozen and made into many tasty and healthy dishes. Apples are fat, sodium, and cholesterol free. And a medium apple has about 80 calories.

And yet another piece of trivia. The apples on a tree ripen from the outside of the tree towards the center, so the apples on the outside of the tree will ripen first.

Unlike an apple tree, our spiritual growth comes from the inside. We produce fruit with the help of the Holy Spirit to become people that God can use in His kingdom.

On a day-to-day basis, I must grow spiritually. Sometimes the growth is barely noticeable and other days I grow in enormous ways. But if I do not grow, I become stagnant. So I’m determined to grow!

I’ve spoken of Jesus’ message in John 15 on numerous occasions. Jesus encourages us to grow. To produce fruit. To remain in Him. His words are nourishment to the soul and as we come to understand His words, we understand that we must grow.

In Romans 7:4 (NIV), Paul also encourages us to bear fruit. “So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.”

We also read of growth through the Gospel. “All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth.” (Colossians 1:6b – NIV)

And again in Colossians 1:10 (NIV). “And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.”

We must continue to grow in knowledge and in bearing fruit. Each day we must get into God’s Word to see where growth should take place and then we must allow growth to take place. It may be difficult. It will be work. But when good fruit is produced, it is worth it all.

Are you growing today? What steps are you taking to ensure growth? Are you learning from God’s Word today? I pray that you are.

Well, I guess I better stop writing now and get working on those apples. Have a blessed day!

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

Donna