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Check Your Streams
Julia Tuttle’s orange blossoms, sent to Henry Flagler during a particularly harsh freeze in the winter of 1895, played a significant role in the oil-baron-turned-railroad-tycoon’s decision to bring his trains south. In reality, Flagler had always had his sights set on Key West, believing it would be a great city and shipping port. With the failing health of his wife, and the mounting frustrations and costs of building railroad tracks through the swampy everglades, however, he may have simply stayed in Palm Coast. But for Tuttle’s creative persistence, Flagler came south! Three years later, Miami was incorporated.Today, it is everything Julia thought it would become and more, as one of the premier cities of the U.S. and a gateway to Latin America. And Flagler too, spurred on by an irrational drive, made it to Key West cutting the path that would become what is now U.S. 1 on the first “railroad across the sea.”
But what about the orange blossoms? Why were the orange blossoms such a significant symbol to motivate a man as distracted as Flagler to exhaust his wealth, and perform the previously thought impossible task of spanning the ocean with concrete? Perhaps it’s this: orange blossoms don’t grow on frozen trees. The orange blossoms all around Flagler were dying due to cold temperatures. But Tuttle’s blossoms represented fertile land, healthy trees and became a source of hope.
Luke 6:43-45 says, “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”
So then, how does a person who wants to produce good fruit become a good person? Move to Miami?!? Maybe...
The reason Tuttle’s orange trees were blossoming while all the other orange trees in Florida were dying is simple, Miami and the Keys were the only frost-free places in the U.S. at the time. In other words, if you want oranges, you have to go where oranges grow.
Psalm 1:3 teaches us to, “be like a tree planted by streams of water yielding its fruit in season and whose leaves never wither.” Check your streams. Are you planted in Christ? Or have you subjected yourself to the freezing conditions away from Him.
Be like a tree planted by streams of water and bear fruit!
We can see the simple agricultural truth of this message in the story of Tuttle and Flagler and the birth of the 305. It’s obvious that for a tree to produce good fruit it needs to be a good tree. But this parable takes it beyond just the quality of the tree and its fruit-bearing potential and into a spiritual concept we should pay close attention to. If only good trees produce good fruit, is it also true that only good men produce good works? That’s what the parable is saying – clearly!
So then, how does a person who wants to produce good fruit become a good person? Move to Miami?!? Maybe...
The reason Tuttle’s orange trees were blossoming while all the other orange trees in Florida were dying is simple, Miami and the Keys were the only frost-free places in the U.S. at the time. In other words, if you want oranges, you have to go where oranges grow.
Psalm 1:3 teaches us to, “be like a tree planted by streams of water yielding its fruit in season and whose leaves never wither.” Check your streams. Are you planted in Christ? Or have you subjected yourself to the freezing conditions away from Him.
The passage from Luke talks about storing up goodness, like an orange tree may absorb nutrients from the ground, but where does that goodness come from? We become “a good tree” when we’re rooted in Christ, without His nourishing truth to guide our souls we become corrupt and unable to produce good fruit. Check your streams.
Are you filling your mind with scripture, worship, godly messages, and a heavenly perspective? Are your eyes taking in images that honor God? Are your hands doing work that matters for the Kingdom, and is it blessing others? Are your feet bringing you into places where Jesus’ name can be lifted high? If not, check your streams.
The life that is planted by dried-up river beds, rocky soil, and poisoned wells, will not produce fruit in season or keep green leaves. We are called as followers of Jesus Christ to be set apart; to be Holy. God intends our lives to inspire others to know and follow Him.
Be like a tree planted by streams of water and bear fruit!
Westminster Christian School, located in Palmetto Bay, Florida, is a private, college-preparatory school for children from preschool through twelfth grade.