In our orchard we have almost a hundred cherry trees. Of course we care for them all the same: they’re all pruned in the spring, they’re sprayed throughout the growing season (don’t worry, it’s organic spray!), and they all get the same water and sunlight. Every year it’s interesting to see how much (or how little) fruit they produce, and at times there’s quite a bit of variation from tree to tree.
To wit: at the end of one row is a nice big healthy tree that’s shaped nicely and has a lot of leaves. By all accounts, it’s an impressive cherry tree.
And yet… there’s not a single cherry on it. Not one. I know it’s produced fruit in the past, and I have faith it’ll produce in the future. But this season, for whatever reason, it produced nothing at all.
Just down the row, maybe thirty feet away, is a pathetic tree that can’t really even be called a “tree” because it’s little more than a couple of spindly branches. It has a few leaves clinging to its twisted twigs.
But look at its fruit. There are more cherries than leaves! Despite its sad appearance, this gnarled monstrosity produced more than its beautiful, healthy neighbor.
I feel like there’s a parable or message here. Perhaps we see people who appear to be beautiful, successful, intelligent, and motivated. We expect them to say and do great things. We think their “fruit” will be plentiful and amazing. And then, for whatever reason, they do nothing.
Right beside them, there’s someone else who seems timid, defeated, incapable, or even pathetic. We don’t expect anything of them… how could they possibly amount to anything? But they grow, and flourish, and produce something stunning and magnificent.
Never, never judge someone on their appearance alone. They may have far more fruit to give than we expect.