Market Day

 I wasn't anticipating being really excited about going to a market, but once we got to this market in Porto, we all scattered in different directions with our cameras clicking away. The colors were so vibrant and everything looked so fresh and beautiful. I was so excited when I saw the pictures on my computer. Your mouth can't help but water when you look at all this delicious fresh food!

 But then, I got to thinking...I didn't even stop to look at any of it. I didn't smell the fruit, or buy some to taste it. Was it really as juicy and as wonderful as I made it out to be in my head? I didn't stop to touch and feel them. Were they ripe, or did they need a little more time? Were there any bad spots in them, or were they perfect?

This made me think of our walk with God as a follower of Christ. We can portray ourselves to the world as colorful and vibrant, ripe and perfect for the choosing. But, what happens if someone stops to truly look at us and study us? What will they see if they look inside us, turn us over in their hands. Will we be stiff and dry, picked too soon? Or rotten on the inside?

When we choose to follow Christ, we have to fill ourselves daily with His word, let Him water our soul with His perfect love. We have to know His word, so we can bear good fruit. We have to trust in Him to prune the rotten away. And then, when His timing is perfect (for we alone can never be perfect), He will pick us and let us share the good fruit with others around us.

My prayer is that those we met in Porto, and all those I come in contact with, can learn that Jesus is the Good Fruit and that they can taste all that He has to offer. Don't pass Him over or just admire Him as you walk by.

I pray that I can be more intentional in all my relationships: that they may bear good fruit. That I can trust Him more to allow His work to happen through me.

John 15:2-5

Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

João 15:2-5

Ele corta todos os ramos que em mim não dão fruto, e limpa os que dão fruto, para que deem ainda mais. Vocês já estão limpos pelo ensino que eu vos deixei. Permaneçam em mim, que eu permaneço em vós. Um ramo não pode dar fruto por si só, se não estiver unido à videira. Por isso, não podem dar fruto se não estiverem unidos a mim. Eu sou a videira e vós os ramos. Aquele que estiver unido comigo dá muito fruto porque sem mim nada podem fazer.