Expectant Prayers ®

Last night while my oldest son and I were fixing dinner, we began talking about the pineapple we were cutting up.   Yummy.  We love fresh pineapple; not just for it's taste, but also for it's tropical aroma!   Before I cut it, I sat in on the counter and managed to get out the first musical phrase... "Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?"  before I was silenced with the whine of "M-O-M".  I grabbed the cutting board, my large knife, and I cut off both ends.  The aroma went straight to our noses.  When you smell the scent, you can't help but think of the ocean, sandy shores, and pina coladas (non-alcoholic of course) with those fancy little umbrellas; sitting in a lounge chair and sipping away in the shade of a giant palm tree.  Okay- back to reality!  Can't you tell we are all ready for summer and fun in the sun?

As I was cutting off the outsides, I said to him, "Why do you think the pineapple has such a spiny outside?  You have to work so hard to get to the fruit on the inside!"    He said without hesitation, "Because if it didn't, all the animals would eat all the fruit and then we wouldn't have any more pineapples."   Ah, good point and what a gifted child.  When I thought it over for a minute I began to realize what spiritual truths that lie within a simple pineapple.  I told Titus, "Now that pineapple can preach!" 


Fruit of a plant is what holds the seeds, right?  What are seeds for anyway?  For bearing more fruit of the same kind.  Titus was right.  If something would come along and devour all the fruit, then the tree would be unable to perpetuate more trees (which eventually leads to more fruit).     This sort of sounds like the Parable of the Sower  (Matthew 13)!

Now think of the fruit that we bear as Christians.    What is the fruit for anyway?  

 Obviously, we think about fruit as a indicator of what kind of tree it is.  Apple trees bear apples, cherry trees bear cherries, pear trees bear pears, etc.  Our "fruit" indicates whether or not we are Christians.  The Word tells us we can use this as a plumb test  (I had to say that, get it?  PLUM)    Matthew 17:15-18 (NLT) says, "You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?  A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit.  A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit."

One of the reasons for fruit also has to be, to perpetuate more Christians.  We don't need to look any further than Genesis 1:11 for this truth about seeds; " Then God said, “Let the land sprout with vegetation—every sort of seed-bearing plant, and trees that grow seed-bearing fruit. These seeds will then produce the kinds of plants and trees from which they came.” And that is what happened."
God intends on us to be fruitful and multiply in the spirit; bearing more Christians.

Isn't it funny that God talks a lot about plants?  He is the vine, we are the branches; the parable of the sower, Jesus cursing the fig tree,  etc.  I think there are deep truths in such basic illustrations!

 Isn't it also interesting that original sin began due to the disobedience of Eve and Adam because they ate the forbidden fruit?  The fruits of sin only lead to more sin in a person's life!  Whatever fruit we are partaking from will continue to generate and re-generate.  

Even the basic building block of our belief system, FAITH, is compared to a mustard seed in the Bible.  Faith as small as a tiny mustard seed can move mountains!  Why?  Because faith planted will continue to grow. 

"Jesus said, “How can I describe the Kingdom of God? What story should I use to illustrate it?  It is like a mustard seed planted in the ground. It is the smallest of all seeds,  but it becomes the largest of all garden plants; it grows long branches, and birds can make nests in its shade.”  Mark 4:30-32 (NLT)

Let's look again at the multiplication process of God.  Because of this liking to "seeds"  God shows us that individuals have great able to perpetuate His kingdom!  I had a doctor tell me once after I had a miscarriage that the human reproductive system is very wasteful.  "We have millions of eggs, but we don't ever use them...", he said.  I disagreed.  Wasteful?  No.  It's a perfect plan.  Without seeds, nothing would perpetuate.   Having gobs of seeds guarantees more of the same kind!  Seeds are also a testimony to the order God has created in this world.  The great calculator, Fibonacci  (1175AD), brought some of these facts to light though his relation to math and nature!  A pineapple is an example of this and the symmetry of its design.  God is a big God and quite the designer!

My little boys found a pod full of seeds with fuzzy "parachutes" on each seed yesterday.  They had fun taking out the seeds and seeing how long they could keep them in the air.  That led to the discussion about how seeds are transported; air/wind, animals, people, etc.     WE are the transportation system for God's seeds of faith and the Word.    It brings new meaning to the phrase "Bloom where you are planted."  Blooming isn't just for the concept of flourishing and shining God's glory, but also the idea of multiplying.

I bet you didn't know that a pineapple had so much to say!

SO , WHERE ARE THE SEEDS IN A PINEAPPLE?   FACTOID:  You will not find seeds in the pineapples you get at the market, although it is possible to plant the top of the pineapple to grow a new tree.  Commercial planters use "suckers" or other slips from the top of the plant to create new pineapple plants.  Seedless varieties have been developed (which is what we consume) because it is said that trying to eat a pineapple with seeds would be like having a mouth full of gravel!    This is similar to other fruits we commonly consume such as seedless grapes, navels, bananas, watermelon, etc.  Pineapples are seedless because they are not cross-pollinated!