Ugly trees can bear fruit

There's a really ugly tree in my back yard that I would have sworn was dead when I bought the property last fall.  On Thursday evening while planting some flowers, my next door neighbor came over to tell me that the cherries were ripe and if I wanted any, I'd better pick them before the birds do.  I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't know what she was talking about until she pointed at that ugly, dead tree leaning over onto the top of my garage.

I've made two trips out to the cherry tree, with a big plastic bowl and a step ladder in hand.  I picked two big bowls full and have washed and packed the cherries in sugar for freezing.  I packed into 12 freezer bags enough cherries to top a cheesecake.  So every month for the next year, I will treat myself to a cherry cheesecake, compliments of that ugly tree in my back yard.

While I was elbow deep in cherries, I started thinking about how many of God's children I have overlooked or underestimated in my life because they didn't look like they were bearing fruit.  I wonder how many people have looked at me and written me off the way I wrote off that ugly tree. I thank God for that cherry tree and the fruit I brought me.  I thank God that I didn't have the resources at the time to follow my first instinct, which was to chop it down.  What a blessing I would have missed if I'd done that.  People, like trees, should not be judged by their outward appearance.  They should be judged by the fruit they bear.