Under the Cacao Tree

"He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more."  John 15:2

Some time back, I purchased a cacao tree.  Being a chocolate lover and living in Texas, I had lofty dreams of my single tree turning into a giant Texas chocolate plantation.  I nurtured my treasured tree, misting it in the mornings, and adjusting it's shade to sunlight ratio as perfectly as I possibly could to ensure it had just the right conditions for bearing fruit.

Finally, one morning I went out to inspect the tree and found a perfect little white blossom on it.  I took a picture, posting it on social media, declaring myself Chocolate Baroness of the World.  The next day, there were even more delicate white blossoms!  My excitement could not be contained.

All the excitement was short-lived, however, when in one week's time, the beautiful blossoms dwindled away to nothing.  So much promise, but not a speck of fruit.  The tree finally succumbed to the family dog in the heat of one sunny Sunday afternoon when she was in need of a snack.

Our lives are often like that cacao tree.  We show a lot of promise.  We even have pretty buds sometimes.  But, we never produce any real fruit for God's Kingdom.

The passage above tells us that if we do not produce fruit for Christ, we will be cut off from Him.  

Oh, may it never be in your life or in mine!  May we do more than just look the part.  May we produce much fruit for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.