Reach for the Fruit


God has good gifts to give his children! He has more of himself and his presence to shower upon us - if we will reach for him. I believe that he is waiting on us to expand our vision and truly believe; that with God all things are possible. On the inside cover of my Bible I have written: Conceive higher, believe higher, receive higher. That phrase has motivated me for years to take the limits off what I think God can do in my life and to reach for more of him.

Late last summer I was driving through our small town when I passed my neighbors house, and noticed that his apple tree was overflowing with gorgeous, bright red apples. And even though I had passed this house numerous times, on my way out to the highway, I hadn't noticed the tree before. But now it caught my eye, and I became intent upon getting some of those apples. I made a quick call to my friend Cleo, drawing her into my obsession to conquer the apple tree, and we were off and running in our common goal of; apple sauce, apple pie and baked apples.

The man who lives in the house with the apple tree is single, and by his own admission could only eat so many apples. So with his blessing and a promise from us to provide him with applesauce and apple pies we set out to pick apples.

The first time we picked apples we brought our daughters and between the four of us we accumulated about four larges bags of fruit. The second time we went to pick apples, the tree was a bit sparse (the rest of the neighborhood was catching on to our find) but we still managed to fill several bags. After making pies and apple sauce galore we decided that we needed just a few more of those amazing red apples and we went back for our last picking (I told you we were obsessed!). This time we left the daughters at home knowing there would be nothing they could do to help. You see, between us and the rest of the neighborhood that apple tree had been almost picked clean. The rest of those delicious, juicy apples were at the very top of the tree and those apples actually seemed to be bigger and redder then the ones that had been growing on the lower branches. We could see them just out of our grasp, teasing us with their inaccessibility.

So there we were, the two obsessed housewives climbing the apple tree to get to those apples. Well to be honest, Cleo was climbing and I was catching the apples as she tossed them down to me. I can't even imagine what this looked like to the people driving by, but the really pathetic thing is - we didn't care. We were intent upon those apples! The apples were the prize and we were determined to get the prize!

God has so much for us! But because he is a good Father and always has our best in mind, he knows that so often we are better off if we have to reach and stretch to receive from him. He could just drop in our laps the things he desires to give us, and thankfully sometimes that happens. But most times he is wanting us to come up higher, having our hearts and minds expanded so that we can see so much more is possible then we imagined.

In my example of the apple tree we had to reach, stretch and climb for the best fruit. Spiritually speaking, we do the same thing by reaching out for more of God with all our hearts. Extending our reach, straining to have more of him. Determining to spend time in prayer each day, setting apart time to deepen our relationship with the Lord. Determining to walk in his ways according to the word of God and to stop setting limits on what God can do in our lives. When we start expecting more from our relationship with Him, he readily pours forth more of himself upon our lives to show that he is faithful to the one who dares to believe!

God loves us so much and desires to meet our needs. To those of us that need peace of mind, he desires to give us a deep and abiding peace that can never be shaken. To those of us who desperately need forgiveness, he desires to give us the ultimate forgiveness found in the redemptive work of Christ on the cross. To those of us that need healing, he desires to reveal himself as the healer. To those of us that cry out to be loved, he desires to fill that place in our hearts, having it settled forever that we are indeed loved!

Whatever it may be you need today, I encourage you to reach out with all your might, stretching toward the God who created you and loves you.

Paula Friedrichsen copyright 2003 pjfministries@hotmail.com

Paula Friedrichsen is a Christian Speaker and newspaper columnist from Mammoth Lakes, California. She has developed "The Abundant Life Seminar" to educate and inspire women toward greater fulfillment - spiritually, physically and relationally. To schedule her for your upcoming conference / retreat, or to learn more about this presentation (or other topics Paula speaks on) go to her website www.pfministries.com - or call 760-935-4295

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