Bearing Fruit

The pear tree in my dad’s yard is over 100 years old and continues producing fruit. It’s still an inspiration to me.

The Kieffer pear tree in the picture is more than 100 years old, and it still bears fruit. It’s the only tree remaining of a small orchard and reminds me of fall and pear picking. Years ago the orchard produced plenty of fruit, and families came in October to gather pears for canning and baking.

Kieffer pears are not as popular for eating as the Bosc, the D’Anjou and the Bartlett. These European pears thrive on the U.S. West Coast, but don’t do as well planted east of the Rockies. Farmers who tried to grow them in the Midwest were disappointed. The trees produced poorly or not at all, and they were susceptible to fire blight.

In the 1860s, Peter Kieffer developed a fire blight–resistant pear that adapted to a variety of growing zones. His hybrid proved to be what growers east of the Rockies needed: a vigorous, fast-growing, disease-resistant tree that produced lots of pears—though hard pears.

In time, growers learned that Kieffers become as delicious as Bartletts with proper handling. If they are stored a few weeks after picking, they become sweet and juicy. We stored bushels of newspaper-wrapped pears in the garage to enjoy later in the fall.

Still bearing fruit

I check out the old tree when we visit southern Indiana. It has become less substantial each year, but the trunk has enough living wood to support half a dozen branches. This June, I counted 80 pears on the tree, on track for ripening in October.

Occasionally someone will stop by and ask Dad, “Want me to take that old tree down for you?” But he will let it stand until some natural cause brings it down. For me, it pictures God’s plan for each individual. We are here to bear fruit for His pleasure, as long as He determines.

Serving God when we’re older

It’s encouraging to know God determines our days, yet the psalmist raises a concern we have about serving God when we’re older. Can we be useful to God? What can we do for Him when we have less physical strength?

The psalmist asks God for reassurance, “Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come” (Psalm 71:18, New International Version).

Psalm 92:14-15 answers, “They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing, to declare that the LORD is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”

Isaiah adds a forceful description of God’s unceasing care for His people: You “who have been upheld by Me from birth, who have been carried from the womb: Even to your old age, I am He, and even to gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you” (Isaiah 46:3-4).

Fruit in maturity

God’s purpose for each of us unfolds over a lifetime. He continues to expect good works of us as long as we live. He wants the same fruit of righteousness, but expressed in ways commensurate with our strength. He brings forth a particularly satisfying fruit in maturity: proclaiming God’s wondrous works, reflecting on life and saying, as one of our elderly members does regularly, “The Lord’s been good to me.”

Mary is the wife of Jack Hendren, pastor. They live in Corpus Christi, Texas, and take delight in being close to the ocean, stars, birds, fields and ranches.

To read more from Mary Hendren and more about trees and growth, see “Like a Tree.”