My Greatest Gratefulness

Seeing as this is my first daily post (in what I would suppose will be many posts), I want to express my gratitude by order of magnitude. What gives me strength through trial is the WORD of God. When Yeshua was tempted in the wilderness by Satan, He said "It is WRITTEN..." I have had to ward away adversarial thought and attitudes, because the enemy loves to kick believers when they are down. But I say to these: The LORD rebuke you!

Then I fill that empty void with thoughts of gratitude, thoughts of the divine, thoughts of forgiveness, thoughts of love. I deeply desire this tree to produce good fruit - not just lush leaves.

Produce Good Fruit

Sometimes, if a tree is not producing any good fruit, it must be cut down. My old ironshield account was intended to be an opportunity to bear that good fruit, but I had gotten bogged down with managing pools and staking and "nursing" my crypto. That's not really what I ever wanted it to be about. So, perhaps the Most High did a great favor for me by removing my old account, so I can replace it with something MORE valuable.

As I've mentioned in other posts, I see God's fingerprints in many big events in my life. I don't go looking for signs, but if I see a sign, I don't ignore it either. Our family has been reading the Gospels every evening after diner and just read about the story of Yeshua cursing the fig tree (Mark 11:12-14).

The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.”

I could look at my old blog and say, "it's healthy, look at all the beautiful leaves!" I could point out the investments, the comments, the engagement, the daily posting - but it was lacking something. It was absorbing the precious nutrients from the garden (my time), and it was healthy looking... but it was not bearing fruit!

The Axe is Laying at the Root

The Sunday after my account was hijacked and drained, I was pretty down. I put forth a lot of effort to not allow myself to fall into a depression. It would have been tempting for me to just not get out of bed that morning. I felt like I was mourning the loss of a cherished pet or something like that.

I looked out the window and saw my neighbor's maple tree and saw something that surprised me. The tree had been slated to be cut down for years. It had an orange "X" on the trunk for at least two years. A few days prior, a crew came and cut off all the branches and all that was left was the trunk.

I looked out the day after my crypto was stolen (Sunday) and saw... the tree was gone. In chunks. On the ground.

I could see just how large this maple tree was, the log was as high as the man's waist!

The tree was not in great shape, but it wasn't dead. It had many healthy leaves. But the neighbors were worried it might drop it's branches in a storm and damage a car. Seeing the tree (that had always been there) gone, it made me reflect on my stolen investment.

The axe was at the root of the tree and I didn't even realize it! (Luke 3:9)

This is when I realized - God is instructing me to not just bear leaves. Don't just give the appearance of righteousness. Do not play-act. Bear good fruit!

So He (in His Mercy) gave me the opportunity to BEAR GOOD FRUIT. And although we are commanded to perform our righteousness in secret, He also instructs us to be a light "so that all who are in the house can see".

I'm not about to blow the trumpet every time some act of righteousness is performed, but if I have the opportunity to display good behavior in face of trial, it is my duty to do what the gardener expects of me: bear good fruit.

Even as we are "unprofitable slaves doing what we should" (Luke 17:10), it's the duty of a good tree to bear good fruit for the gardener, lest we get hewn down and cast into the fire.

I don't know about you, but I don't particularly desire to be cast into the fire.

The Word of God is a GARDENER

I'm grateful for the Word of the Most High! I'm grateful that my neighbor's tree (and my old ironshield crypto account) got cast into the fire, rather than my own soul! Who knows what trial I was spared!

And now I have been given an opportunity to show "fruit worthy of repentance" and the "fruit of the spirit".

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23)

• Love: people over crypto
• joy: express happiness, even when sad
• peace: be at peace and accept dire circumstances
• patience: be patient with the long climb back
• kindness: show kindness with the people I interact with
• generosity (goodness): give generously whenever an opportunity presents itself
• faithfulness: not loosing faith, but building up faith
• gentleness: not lashing out in rage and anger, but remaining gentle
• self-control: do not allow dangerous thoughts to take root and control my actions

I believe that GRATEFULNESS sums up all of these attributes. To be content, to be grateful, to be giving and to not act unbecomingly.

This is the good fruit that I have been given the opportunity to display. Not for my glory, but for the GLORY of the MOST HIGH God!

Bless His Holy Name!