bearing fruit

Eileen Marston helps us apply biblical teaching to our working lives

As clinicians and believers, don’t we just love to be prolifically fruitful in walking the extra mile for our patients? In desiring the purpose for which we were sent, we faithfully take a godly pride in our work. Paul says in Romans 15:1, ‘We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak...’ (Romans 15:1), and don’t we just!

However, what about the seasons when, ‘ouch!’, we are being pruned back and have less fruit to offer? As health care workers, this could, for example, manifest in how we experience and deal with learning a new task and stepping out of our comfort zone, cope with a complaint or criticism made against us, or maybe how we manage a difficult relationship issue with a colleague. These seasons can resemble the darkness before dawn. However, we know that because of God’s mercy, he promises his sunrise to guide us in the path of peace (Luke 1:78-79).

When God decides to reshape us spiritually, it can potentially and temporarily reduce our zest and deplete us of confidence at work. But he who is our perfect gardener knows exactly how to maintain our spiritual health and growth. God’s manicure is necessary for us to embrace transformation and draw closer to him in our journey to become more obedient and willing children of God. When going through a pruning season in our lives, we must not be hard on ourselves! God loves us just as much during our ‘empty’ seasons as in our fruitful ones!

‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.’ (John 15:1-2)

If I were a tree,

I could wither and dry,

If I never bore fruit,

I would spiritually die.

But I know to keep faithful,

And pray to keep strong,

For new fruit to blossom,

I must worship in song.

‘Cos, I know there’ll be days,

When my branches look bare,

The wind will blow cold,

And I’ve little to share,

So I know to be patient,

Not forgetting the reason,

Why it’s not every day,

That fruit is in season.

Eileen Marston is an adult nurse working in Oxford