Bearing Fruit in Your Home(school)Sýnishorn

The Olive Grove

Now let us travel and turn our attention to the olive grove to see what we can learn from the olive shoot.

It has been explained that when looking at any olive tree, you might see as many as ten or more new shoots growing out of the root system around the tree. These shoots grow from the bottom or the base of another older tree.

Psalm 128:3 serves as a bridge from where we were, as we considered bearing fruit in our own lives, to where we are heading, which is bearing fruit in our homeschool.

You see, some buds that sprout from the olive tree turn into blossoms, giving way to fruit. Other buds become shoots and then branches, which in turn generate new buds, continuing the cycle.

In other words, the olive tree’s buds can go in two directions: some end up blossoming while others give life to new shoots. On the new branches, other leaves and buds develop, allowing the olive tree to flower the following year, ensuring a fruitful harvest in the future.

There are a lot of lessons from the olive tree, but one of my favorites is the picture of a fruitful olive tree now, producing potentially fruitful olive trees in the future. Isn’t that what we want for our homeschools? Don’t we want to be fruitful women who “produce” (by God’s grace and the working of the Holy Spirit within our children’s hearts and lives) potentially fruitful men and women in the future?

The picture of the new shoots growing at the base of the older tree reminds me of our young children, right underfoot, perhaps. It can seem so constant and so draining, can’t it? Perhaps it’s even an older child who is no longer physically underfoot but is nevertheless draining as though he were.

Will we remember the olive shoot the next time we find ourselves frustrated, exasperated, or drained? The picture from the olive grove – the purpose of the proximity and the nearness of the young shoot – is one of growth.

How precious and what a privilege it is to have our children, like an olive shoot, growing up right next to us, the older and more fruitful tree. What a vision! May we be mindful of the potential for growth within us and our children when the young shoot is this close (at “the base of”) the wiser, older tree!

Spurgeon said of this verse, “I have seen the young olive plants springing up around the parent stem, and it has made me think of this verse – the idea of young people springing up around their parents, even as olive plants surround the fine, well-rooted tree. How beautiful to see the gnarled olive, still bearing abundant fruit, surrounded with a little band of sturdy successors.”

May this be our prayer this school year: to be fruitful, well-rooted women, knowing we are perfectly tended and cared for by our Gardener, trusting Him as we are alert like the watchman to wisely pour into the “shoots” growing up around us (at our “base”) so that they, too, may grow into fruitful, Christ-loving and Christ-like men and women.

While this is a lovely thing to pray for, I realize it is easier said than done, especially in the mundane moments of homeschooling or when plans are thwarted, attitudes plummet. No one (including mom!) is feeling particularly motivated!

The psalmist’s words in Psalm 1:1-3 can help us persevere when discouragement and exhaustion threaten to sidetrack us.

“Fruit in its season.” It is reassuring to acknowledge (and be at peace with) different seasons that inevitably look different and bear different fruit. In some seasons, when we are tempted to focus on what we see (which can be pretty discouraging), it is easy to forget that as we stay connected to the Vine, He is faithful to work in all seasons of our lives for His glory.

Sometimes, the most important stage of fruit production is when we don’t see any growth on the outside. Even then, we can be assured that as we remain and abide in Him, activity is taking place inside that “bud” that will eventually lead to growth!

Be encouraged: His purpose will be accomplished whatever season you are in. We cannot compare our homeschool to another’s. We must consider the season we’re in, whether it’s the ages of our children or our unique circumstances.

So remember the lesson we’ve learned from the olive grove: it is good, it is for growth, that your young shoot is at your “base.” Know that the Lord will bring forth the fruit that is just right for this season!