What fruit is in season? patience

September 5, 11:18 PMColumbus Christian Spirituality ExaminerLonnell Johnson

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I am continually looking at life to see how the times and seasons apply to me, as I endeavor to see more clearly who am I and ascertain where I am during this particular season of my life. I have become more aware of the season of life in which I currently find myself and recognize what is the “fruit” of this season. Right now I am in the autumn of the years and apples are among the produce that are currently in season. In fact, September is National Apple Month. So what’s in season in this season of my life?

                                                     September is National Apple Month

What’s in Season, Farmer Johnson?

The idea of harvesting produce in their season is to pick the fruit at the peak of their flavor—not too soon, when, in this case, apples may be hard and not be sweet enough, and not too late when the fruit may be overripe and begin to spoil. Most remarkably, I also came across this endorsement from someone who had sampled the apples from, of all places, “Farmer Johnson Apple Orchards” in Washington State. The individual commented, “I have had the opportunity to try all the varieties of Farmer Johnson apples, they are the best apples I have ever tasted. Fresh, crisp.... the perfect apple.” I couldn’t help but smile, as I reflected upon my desire to be “neither barren nor unfruitful” but to be productive and highly fruitful in all my endeavors.

Just as apples are now in season in the natural at “Farmer Johnson’s Apple Orchards”, so in the Spirit patience is the fruit I am endeavoring to perfect at this time. James 1:5 reminds us: “But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” James Chapter 5 I find particularly applicable at this time, in light of my personal identification with “Farmer Johnson.” Indeed, the poem “I Sing in My Garden” from Stone upon Stone: Psalms of Remembrance opens with these lines:

                                I sing in my garden and reap the good,
                                the bounty of living sixty-seven years.
                                Each note seems to evoke a stream of tears
                                That fall, not because of some somber mood
                                But flow from a heart filled with gratitude.
                                The folksong of the farmer thrills my ears
                                Each time plowing, planting or harvest nears.

Job: The Epitome of Patience

In that light the passage from James 5:7-11 has taken on even deeper significance at this time:

            Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.

            You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand
 
            Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door!

            My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience.

            Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.,

Since patience or perseverance is a fruit that seems to be of importance in my life at this time, I briefly examined one of the words for “patience” in the New Testament and noted that the term means “to stay, remain, abide”, literally abiding under. As a verb it figuratively means, to undergo, i.e. bear (trials), have fortitude, to persevere -- abide, endure. The essence of the word involves the yielding of the will to something against which one naturally would rebel. It means cheerful (or hopeful) endurance, constancy. It is a bearing up in a way that honors and glorifies God, not merely to grin and bear it.

The passage from James provides an excellent example of both the verb and the noun associated with patience in a particular individual who embodies the character trait of patient endurance. This quality we most often associated with Job, whom *Chuck Swindoll described as a “man of heroic endurance.” One of the spiritual principles that the Book of Job demonstrates is that God is “full of compassion and tender mercy” and that he rewards those who demonstrate “patience.”

At the end the Book of Job, we find this reminder:

 Job 42:10:
 And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.

Just as apples are in season on Farmer Johnson’s orchard in Washington State, so patience is the fruit of the spirit that is in season in this season of Pastor (Farmer) Dr. Lonnell Johnson’s life. The scriptures offer this reminder: “You have need of patience, that after that you have done the will of the Lord you might receive the promise.” I am patiently waiting.