Last night I was taking out the garbage when I got a little surprise. I walked through the garage and noticed something long and black lying on the ground. When I took a second glance at the object to see what it was, I realized it was a snake. Once I was over the initial surprise of discovering a snake in my closed up garage, I helped him find his way out. It was a black snake and I know they are good for keeping the mice and other rodents under control.
Actually, I might like to introduce that snake to some chipmunks that have been causing problems on our back porch. The chipmunks have been getting the sunflower seeds we put out for the birds and planting them in all the flower pots on the back porch. They also ate more than their share of my blueberries.
There have been some other critters that aren’t making me happy. The rabbits have been helping themselves to my sweet potatoes. I have planted slips at least three times and they keep disappearing. I know some of the work has been done by the rabbits but they had some help from the deer.
Rabbits and deer are beautiful animals when they are in fields munching on grass and clover. When they come in my yard and eat my vegetable and flowers, they are no longer cute. My neighbor has pictures of the deer standing in my garden helping herself. I bought an electric fence to help “encourage” the deer to go someplace else.
I also have a box turtle who lives over in the woods but he likes to come to my garden too. He has a taste for the melons…which haven’t been able to grow this year because the rabbits and deer keep eating my young seedlings. I took the turtle a piece of watermelon rind when I saw him the other day.
I thought my beans might have a critter free year, but I was wrong. I went out the other day to discover holes in the leaves. It was some kind of bug that loves to eat bean leaves and they were throwing a big party. The plants are still producing beans, but they don’t look pretty.
I imagine it must be tough to be a farmer when I consider the battles I fight just to grow my garden. I think the battles I fight just to grow my garden are similar to the battles we must fight to grow our spiritual lives. God tells us that He wants to see spiritual fruit in our lives, but I believe there are “critters” trying to keep us unfruitful.
We live in a world where anger and bitterness thrive. These are not fruit of the spirit, yet talk shows and news programs build an audience through displaying these character qualities. If people act this way and they are caught on video, it will go viral.
It seems that hatred towards our neighbors and people who look or act differently has become the norm. Where has brotherly kindness gone? It seems that people are choosing to live in various kinds of sinful situations, so the answer seems to be to ostracize and vilify these people. We are all sinners in different ways; do you believe that God thinks one sin is worse than another? Where have the qualities of mercy and forgiveness gone? Jesus was often found with tax collectors and sinners. He told us it was the sick that needed his doctoring.
My pastor pointed out on Sunday that one of Satan’s purposes is to divide us. He wants husbands and wives to divorce. He wants to break down relationships between parents and children. He wants churches to speak negatively against other churches. He wants gangs and nations to kill each other. God want us to live in unity. It doesn’t mean we have to agree on everything, in fact, it’s OK if we see and believe things differently. We are Christians united around Jesus Christ our Savior. We are Americans united for freedom and liberty.
I want to encourage you to look around your spiritual garden and see what kinds of critters are eating your spiritual fruit. It’s not easy to live the Christian life, but He wants us to be fruitful. What kind of fruit does He want to see? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Imagine if everyone in the world lived like that, what a wonderful world it would be. I want to produce this kind of fruit for my little corner of the world; I hope you do too.

Doug Creamer has two books at Amazon: The Bluebird Café & Revenge at the Bluebird Café. Contact him at doug@dougcreamer.com