Seasons by Jesse Jorgensen

Psalm 1 says the following about a person who is blessed by God:

“He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not
wither. In all that he does, he prospers.”

One of the most meaningful things to me,
from this verse, is that the tree goes through fruitless seasons. As I read this I can remember many times when I have felt absolutely useless. I remember one time in particular, when I really felt like I had no visible way to accomplish the dreams that I felt God had put into me. It was truly a very miserable time. This verse was something that I clung to. It helped me to hang on and trust that God was working. It helped me to embrace the season of waiting, even as miserable as it was. Not that I came to enjoy it or anything or anything like that, but I came to endure, and eventually God did bring new seasons.

Even since this particular season that I’ve described, I have continued to go through others
like it. I anticipate that there will be many more to come. But, the good news is that seasons are okay! We don’t have to add to our misery by getting down on ourselves for not bearing fruit in a time like this. It’s the way things go for trees, and when we trust God we too will go through them. Another interesting thing about this verse is that is says, “In all that he does, he prospers.” Wait, what about the season when he doesn’t bear fruit? How does he prosper then? Apparently, there is a way.

When I graduated from College one of my professors let each of his students pick one of his paintings as a gift. I chose one called, “The Pruned Vine”. And as you may have guessed, it depicts a vine that has been pruned. It looks dead: cold, and twisted, and dead. I like this painting because it reminds me that there are seasons to life. Just like the vine we go through fruitless times in order to make us more fruitful when the time for harvest comes.

Even in the times of waiting we can prosper. We can choose to endure well, lean into the Lord and let the roots of the lessons that he is teaching us grow deep. The next season will come. When we find ourselves being unfruitful, it may be that the Lord is pruning us. Let’s embrace these seasons as such, and when the correct season comes we will bear fruit.

The Founder of Apple and His Formative Core by Pastor Gregg Donnelly

When I read a book review and find it to be rather intriguing, I try to read the book first before I might buy it. As you probably guessed, I am very thankful for libraries because sometimes the review is better than the book itself.

Just a few days ago, I read an interesting review of Walter Isaacson’s book, “Steve Jobs.” Because I was facing a communigram deadline, I will highlight from Gordon MacDonald’s review of the book.

Steve Jobs was born to an unmarried couple who chose to give him up for adoption. The newborn child came to the home of a working class couple, Paul and Clara Jobs of San Francisco, who lavished great love and care on him.

Paul Jobs was a man of exceptional mechanical and carpentry skill. When Steve was old enough, father and son began to tinker with cars, build furniture, and repair things around the house. In their time together, the father planted a powerful work ethic in his son. All work he learned,

was to be marked with excellence. When they painted a fence together, Steve learned that the unexposed side was to be treated with the same thoroughness as the visible side.

When he began to attend school, he became bored very easily. In his boredom, his behavior revealed a “problem child.” He could have easily been labeled a rebellious delinquent and tossed under the academic bus. Fortunately
a discerning teacher saw something in him
and under her guidance, Jobs quickly became productive in academics. It was an amazing turnaround due to her shift in her teaching style! The author writes about a life changing incident when Jobs was 13 years old. “The July 1968 Life magazine published a shocking cover showing a pair of starving children in Biafra. Jobs took it to Sunday School and confronted the church’s pastor, “if I raise my finger, will God know which one I’m going to raise even before I do it?”

“The pastor answers, “Yes, God knows everything.”
“Jobs then pulled out the Life cover and asked, “Well, does God know about this and what’s going to happen to those children?”
“Steve, I know you don’t understand, but yes, God knows about that.”
The pastor’s answer was not sufficient for the young teen’s intellect and Jobs left unsatisfied. According to the author, Jobs walked away from church that day and never returned. For the pastor, that brief conversation was likely a forgettable moment. Yet it was a turning point that would point Steve Jobs toward eastern philosophy.

Proverbs 25:11 comes to mind: “a word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.” In my conversations over the years how often have I spoke words without the “aptly” tag?
Who knows when a spoken word moves another toward the right path...or the wrong direction? How careful are we with our words? How careful are we with the young and the easily influenced? Think of the formative years of Steve Jobs: a birth mother, a loving father, a wise teacher, an undiscerning pastor?

Since his death last summer at age 56, many Steve Jobs’ quotes have surfaced. I close with one that stuck with me:, “if you live each day as if it is your last day---someday you will be right” That is good advice for all of us!!!