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Christian's Daily Challenge

February 28, 2024

Wounded to be fruitful


“Every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit” (John 15:2).

“Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness” (Heb. 12:11).

It is said that when Mr. Cecil was once walking, in deep dejection of spirit, in the Botanical Gardens at Oxford, his attention was arrested by a fine pomegranate cut almost through the stem. On asking the gardener the reason, he got an answer which explained the wounds of his own bleeding spirit. “Sir,” he said, “this tree used to shoot so strong that it bore nothing but leaves. I was, therefore, obliged to cut it in this manner, and when it was almost cut through then it began to bear plenty of fruit.”—Denton.

Oh, let me suffer, till I know

The good that cometh from the pain,

Like seeds beneath the wintry snow,

That wake in flowers and golden grain.

Oh, let me suffer, till I find

What plants of sorrow can impart;

Some gift, some triumph of the mind,

Some flower, some fruitage of the heart.

The hour of anguish passes by;

But in the spirit there remains

The outgrowth of its agony,

The compensation of its pains.

In meekness, which suspects no wrong,

In patience, which endures control,

In faith, which makes the spirit strong,

In peace and purity of soul.

Thomas C. Upham.