Meal Time
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens…” Ecc 3:1
Fruit trees are on a different level all together.
Give me a raised bed, a trowel, some seeds—and I’ll get it done for veggies.
But fruit trees? They’re in a class all their own—from the way they’re planted, to the watering, to the pruning, to the feeding—they are in their own world; in their own way.
Feeding. It may surprise you, that feeding a fruit tree is specific; as in “when” to feed. This was something I learned not too long ago.
Fruit trees, I discovered, are best fed when they are in their season of producing—not when they are dormant. I had this completely backwards, or should I say, I added extra meal times to their schedule. You see, I thought, why not load them up with fertilizer to get them through a long barren winter.
That was backwards. Incorrect. And in some ways, damaging to the trees. What I have since learned, is if trees are fed during their “down time”, the tree becomes confused, takes in the extra nutrients and thinks its time to grow—it overrides its much needed season of dormancy—it works, when it should rest.
You probably know where I’m going with this.
Anyone else expect God to constantly feed their lives? Any hands up, besides mine?
Oooo doggy, I’ve done this,…my life…my planning…my expecting. Expecting God to feed me, and use me, when I thought it was the right time to do so (always!). And then He didn’t.
Hello fruit trees and your messages!!!…
God wants us to be dormant.
Sometimes.
In some seasons.
For some reasons.
For future growth.
Can this get any different than what the world tells us?
Do more.
Do now.
Do always.
There is a lot to gain in dormancy—to stop doing—and simply being. To shift focus from work-to rest. Not in a sluggard way, but in a growing way.
There are times to lean into active growth, no doubt, and to be fed when it happens. To take in everything that God is sending you, showing you, and moving you—being fed. Those are the “spring times” of our lives, the renewing and the budding.
But there are also the “winter times” where the seasons of waiting and dormancy are just as valuable as the springs and summers. In fact, each season has a purpose for the best growth, and fruit, possible.
May I encourage you—if your season right now looks like the barren winter weather outside, that may in fact be a great thing!
It may be exactly what God wants it to be, and most likely it is.
If you feel unfed, unused, uninspired, unmotivated by God, there is a greater-than-good chance you are in a time of dormancy…getting ready for a season of blooming!
God’s work will never be finished in you. Never!
The season you are in, is the exact season He wants you to be in. If it is growth, and inspiring, and energetic—rejoice and enjoy! If it is dull, and shadowed, and dormant—rejoice and enjoy! Because both seasons are important as the other. It is up to us to remember…being fed does not equate to being given—it just has a different look, for a different time, for a different reason.
“…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Phil 1:6
Happy growing my friends—whether it looks like winter or spring for you; you are in fact growing, in His way and in His time, have no doubt!