The next day Moses entered the tent and saw that Aaron’s staff, which represented the tribe of Levi, had not only sprouted but had budded, blossomed and produced almonds. – Numbers 17:8

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 2, 2018): Numbers 17

“Nothing comes as an accomplishment instantly. Success does not come overnight. Patience is the key! Grow up and be the tree; but remember it takes dry and wet seasons to become a fruit bearer, achiever and impact maker!” Israelmore Ayivor includes these words in his “The Great Hand Book of Quotes.” We are all fruit bearers. The question, under most circumstances, is not whether we are going to bear fruit. But rather, what kind of fruit is our life preparing for us to bear. Will it be good fruit, produced from a mature tree that has gone through its many seasons and has grown strong, or will it be immature fruit, produced from a tree that has not been allowed to grow strong.

The reality is that we don’t like the dry seasons or the high winds of life that sometimes threaten to blow us over – or away. And often we have developed defenses to make sure that we don’t have to go through the dry seasons or hide from the high winds. We shape the truth so that it doesn’t hurt us. We convince ourselves that anger will get us where we want to go. We become bitter over the things that life has given to us. Michelle Obama famously argued that “when they go low, we go high.” But sometimes that is hard to do when every fiber of our being wants to punch something or scream out our anger at those we perceive are making our lives more difficult. The other reality is this; disciplining ourselves to go high when others go low builds a character inside of us that is bound to create good fruit. However, good fruit requires dry seasons and periods of high wind; it requires discipline and chastisement which we must patiently endure.

Part of the current political debate is being held over good fruit. Politically, I am a centrist. I believe we accomplish the most when we are willing to venture toward the center; when we are willing to take a stroll from our polarized positions and walk in the direction of the other side. But the problem in our polarized world is that it is at the center where the high winds blow and where the dry seasons attempt to destroy us. Passing up on the opportunity to react with anger at someone with whom we disagree does not get us the attention that we think that we deserve. But I am convinced that this is where the good fruit will be borne.

Israel was in a political power struggle. The people were grumbling about the way their nation had taken shape, and they were arguing about who it was that should lead. If Israel resembled anything like us, there were people on every side of the argument, and the discourse was marked with words that should never have been spoken. Every tribe believed that they should take the lead, that their leader had the best solution for what was about to happen next.

Moses solution was to take the staffs of each leader and place them in the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle stood literally in the center of Israel, and between the feuding tribes. The next morning, God had spoken. It probably should have been enough it shoots of green began to emerge from the top of Aaron’s staff. But God wasn’t going to take chances with the stiff-necked tribes. Aaron’s staff had sprouted, budded, flowered and produced mature fruit. I believe that we should interpret this to mean, not that the staff had swiftly moved through all of the phases of fruit-bearing, but rather that the staff bore all of the stages of bearing fruit. Just as is true with our lives, there was fruit hanging from the branches in various stages of development. But what was ripe, was good fruit. God had chosen Aaron and the Levites to be the center of life in Israel once more. It would be their task to lead Israel on a path toward God. And it would be God’s task to lead the nation into the future.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Numbers 18