That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither–whatever they do prospers (Psalm 1:3, ESV).

This year, LakeView Church is 75 years old! One of the ways we decided to celebrate was through a 75-hour prayer drive. During one of my prayer slots, I asked the Lord what he wanted me to pray about, and Psalm 1 came to mind. So, I read through Psalm 1 several times, meditating on the passage. A few thoughts occurred to me, and this is one of them.

Sometimes, when I'm reading the Bible in my quiet time, a word or phrase almost looks like it's printed in bold font, even though it's not. It just seems to grab my attention, and I've learned that often that's the Lord drawing me into fellowship through his Word. This time, Psalm 1:3 looked like this in the printed text of my Bible:

That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither–whatever they do prospers.

I paused and re-read the Psalm, giving priority to the words that seemed italicized, and emphasis to the words that seemed bolded. Then, I asked the Lord, "What does it mean to bear fruit in season?"

Directly, the thought came to me, Not every season is a fruit-bearing season.

Fruitfulness is something we talk about a lot in Christian circles. Think about iconic passages like the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5) or Jesus saying true followers of God would be known by their fruit (Matt 7). Jesus told a parable about a landowner who was going to cut down a fig tree in his vineyard because it hadn't produced fruit in three years (Luke 13). And he said, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit" (John 15:1-2).

That's why I often feel the pressure to bear fruit (even though I know it's not my job to produce fruit–it's Jesus's; my job is to abide in him, see John 15:4-7). But the Lord lifted that pressure from me during that late-night prayer time.

Not every season is a fruit-bearing season.

Trees don't yield fruit all year long. If they did, they'd shrivel up and die. It takes a lot of time and energy for a tree to produce fruit! Trees yield their fruit in the proper season. Likewise, we have seasons of fruit-bearing and seasons of fruit-growing, seasons of development, seasons of pruning, seasons of plenty, and seasons of drought.

Not every season is a fruit-bearing season.

What season are you in?