Fruit – Wednesday, May 31, 2017

“Por sus fruitos los conoceréis”- Mateo 7:20

This is what the back of the AIR (Alliance for International Reforestation) t-shirt says. “By your fruits you will be known.” And it’s true. People will know that we are Christians by our love, by our actions, by our service.  People will know who and what AIR is by its fruits – both the literal fruit from the trees they plant as well as the lives and communities that are affected by the work that AIR does in reforestation and agroforestry. By your fruits you will be known.

And without knowing that this scripture was central to the work of AIR, our focus this week, as we are going through our daily devotions, has been on fruit – the fruits of the spirit. “God’s Spirit makes us loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled. There is no law against behaving in any of these ways. God’s Spirit has given us life, and so we should follow the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23, 25).”

Today we focused on faithfulness as we headed into the Campamento village in Acatenango. It seemed a strange fruit of the Spirit to focus on as we began to build fuel-stoves for three different families in this area. (Fun fact: Each stove is tailored to the size of the woman who will be doing most of the cooking for that family.) These stoves will allow these families to continue to cook in their traditional manor but without having constant smoke filling the room that causes coughing fits, extremely watery eyes, and lung disease.

Amidst the work of mapping out where the stove will go, soaking the bricks (to get the air out so they don’t crack), mixing cement with sand and water, shaving the molasses to mix with the mud for brick mortar, and laying the cinderblocks and bricks, faithful surrounded us.

From Juan Leja’s prayer (he is a young technician who works for AIR) at lunch giving thanks for new friends (that’s us), the work of AIR, and God’s presence in all of this to the grandson of the AIR president in Campamento who drove us back to our hotel after one of our pick-up trucks broke down, God’s Spirit shown through in glimpses of faithfulness. And this verse kept ringing in my ears, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).” 

And that is what AIR has demonstrated for me – stepping into places where things are hoped for, where things are unseen, and making a real and lasting impact. Whether it is the stoves that use 50% less firewood and produce less harmful smoke or whether it’s reducing the number of mudslides that demolish homes and destroy lives by working with local farmers to plant more trees. AIR is making a lasting difference in the lives of people in Guatemala as well as in our connection to God’s earth.

My prayer for our mission team as well as each person we encounter in Guatemala has been that God will show us where we can be used to create space for the unseen and bring about hope in people’s lives. Perhaps that is here and now in Guatemala, perhaps it is somewhere in our Baton Rouge community, or somewhere in between. Wherever the Spirit leads, may we be a people of great faithfulness. May we be known by our fruit.

-Colleen Bookter