Still Bearing Fruit
Daily Scripture
Psalm 92:12-15
The righteous will spring up like a palm tree. They will grow strong like a cedar of Lebanon. Those who have been replanted in the LORD’s house will spring up in the courtyards of our God. They will bear fruit even when old and gray; they will remain lush and fresh in order to proclaim: “The LORD is righteous. He’s my rock. There’s nothing unrighteous in him.”
Daily Reflection & Prayer
A few verses earlier in this same psalm, the wicked are compared to grass, springing up fast and getting cut down just as fast. The righteous get a different image entirely. Palm trees and cedars, the kind of trees people plant knowing they won’t see them reach full height in their own lifetime. Palm trees in particular were known in the ancient world for producing dates well past a hundred years old, long after younger trees around them had stopped bearing anything at all. The psalm doesn’t just promise the righteous will survive into old age. It promises they’ll still be producing fruit when they get there.
That promise pushes back against an assumption most cultures make without even noticing they’re making it. A person’s most useful, productive years are supposedly their earlier ones, and getting older mostly means managing decline. Parker Palmer, writing about his own experience of aging, said that being old is “just another word for nothing left to lose,” a season with more freedom to take real risks rather than less.* The psalm makes a similar claim, just older and more rooted. Fruit in old age isn’t a consolation prize for people no longer capable of anything bigger. It’s the specific kind of fruit only years of being planted somewhere can produce. John Wesley called this ongoing growth sanctification, or “going on to perfection.” Not that a person arrives at perfection, we are human after all. But it’s the idea that God’s grace continually shapes and transforms us, deepening across an entire lifetime.
Churches and families can slide into treating older members as people to be cared for rather than people who still have something to give. This psalm assumes the opposite. The fruit an older believer bears isn’t just for their own sake. It exists to declare something true about God that only years can demonstrate.
- Where have you assumed, about yourself or about someone older in your life, that their most useful season is behind them? What would it look like to expect fruit from that person, or from yourself, instead of just care?
- The psalm says the fruit of old age exists specifically to declare that God is faithful and trustworthy. What is one piece of fruit in your life right now, whether that’s wisdom, patience, generosity, or something else, that could point someone else toward God’s faithfulness if you let it?
Prayer
Lord, don’t let me believe the years I have left are just years to get through. You promised fruit even in old age, not just survival. Show me what you still want to grow in me and give me the courage to keep bearing it out loud instead of quietly stepping back. Let whatever fruit remains in my life point to your faithfulness, not just my own effort. Amen.
GPS Insights
Darren Lippe
Darren Lippe, who serves as a Couples Small Group co-leader and Men's Group Leader, while volunteering in a variety of other capacities at Resurrection, wrote today’s Insights. He and his wife, Doris, first met in a Resurrection Single Adult Sunday School class in 1997 and were married in what is now the Student Center. They are empty nesters with 2 college-aged sons, Matthew and Jacob.
As I began to compose my insight, I considered the optimistic theme the Psalmist provides for our seasoned citizens. I then had an awkward epiphany: Um. Perhaps, just perhaps, this passage is directed at me. Gulp.
Aside: Don’t let my GPS picture fool you; that was from 2008 when I started contributing Insights. One parishioner, with tongue in cheek, said I looked like that GPS-writer Darren Lippe, only I have much more gray hair. I responded, “Oh, I’m flattered, but I’m not Darren. I know him. He’s much better looking.”
Upon reflection, the signs of my advancing age were all there:
- When I enter my birth year on some online form, I now give the counter a spin like the Big Wheel on the Showcase Showdown on the gameshow “The Price is Right.”
- When I’m invited out with friends I now want to know, “Will it be loud? What is the parking like? What time will I get home?”
- When I slipped on an icy patch while hiking on the trail to Gem Lake at Rocky Mountain National Park this past May, no one laughed or caught it on video. They all ran up & asked, “Are you okay?” Fortunately, it only bruised my ego.
The Psalmist provides us with some powerful imagery. Let’s take a look:
First, long-time believers are compared to a palm tree. Palm trees are remarkable because they can endure heat, drought, wind & storms, yet continue to prosper & produce fruit. Perhaps, we can relate. Maybe we’ve endured challenging jobs, financial upheaval, struggling relationships, &, when attending a church potluck supper back in the day, even eating meat that was suspended in Jell-O. (Goodness, what WAS our obsession with Jell-O back then?)
Secondly, the Psalmist compares our growth to the Cedars of Lebanon. These trees were famous for their strength, size & longevity. (King Solomon went to great expense to include them in the construction of the Temple.) However, these mighty trees didn’t become impressive overnight. It took years of patient progress. There are very few short-cuts on a life well-lived.
Thirdly, we get to the secret sauce: They are planted in the house of the Lord. Many homes would have courtyards with select trees growing in a sheltered environment. It matters where we are planted. We can “plant” ourselves entirely in money, which can come & go. We can “plant” ourselves on career success, only to realize at some point the career will inevitably end. We can “plant” ourselves based on our physique or looks, only to be shocked one day when walking by the mirror. But when our lives are planted in God, something remarkable can occur. We can continue to flourish, even when our eyesight weakens, our hearing is diminished, or our stride is a tad shorter.
Then the Psalmist offers us my favorite line: In old age we still produce fruit. This isn’t past tense, like some spiritual trophy case filled with memories of our past faithful accomplishments like teaching Sunday School in 2004 or serving as a mentor on a youth choir trip in 2012. The Gospel has no retirement age. (I’ve checked.) So, while our culture celebrates a life pattern of Learn, Work, Retire, & Relax, our Psalmist is encouraging a different pattern: Learn, Serve, Grow, Bear Fruit, & Keep Bearing Fruit.
What might this mean for us today? Maybe we shouldn’t be quite so obsessed with staying young. Perhaps we should strive to stay alive: alive with curiosity, alive with compassion, alive with generosity, &, most importantly, alive with faith. Old age is only a tragedy if we stop bearing fruit while we’re still living.
So, what are we waiting for? Let’s get going!
I’m in! Though I may want to drive separately.
What is the GPS?
Resurrection offers a free tool for those who wish to read the Bible daily. Our Grow/Pray/Study guide (GPS) provides a Bible reading, Scripture reflections based on the passage, inspirational quotes from leading Bible scholars, questions to help readers apply the Bible to their faith journey, and a daily prayer guide at the end of each day’s reflection. Many readers have told us the GPS has strengthened their spiritual growth and helped them better understand how to let the Bible guide them in Christian living.
