The Acerola Principle

If you visit the tropics, you’ll want to try an invigorating glass of juice made from a small, red, natural marvel: the acerola fruit. Relatively unknown in the rest of the world, it has 32 times as much vitamin C as citrus fruit, as well as powerful antioxidant properties.

We once had an acerola tree in our yard—just one, but that one small tree gave so much fruit that there was almost always a pitcher of juice on the dinner table. I remember lazy afternoon moments spent plucking and eating the fruit straight off the tree, warmed and sweetened by the sun.

I also discovered an important similarity between my spiritual life and that tree. Like many tropical trees, the acerola tree doesn’t have a certain fruit-bearing season. At first it seemed to give fruit whenever it pleased. Sometimes the tree was speckled with hundreds of red dots; other times I had to hunt to find them. Why, I had no idea.

It was only after some time that a neighbor revealed the acerola’s secret: it bears fruit in direct proportion to the water it receives. After rainy spells, acerola trees are laden with fruit, but dry periods leave them bare.

We began watering our tree two or three times a day, and the tree produced more fruit than we could handle. But if we got too busy or forgot, production would grind to a halt.

From this perspective, there is no big mystery to having a fruitful spiritual life. The tree is our soul, and the water is God’s Word. The fruit is the results, the obvious effects this water has on us, and the amount of fruit we bear will be in direct proportion to how much “water” we give our “tree.”

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” Does this list seem too good to be true of your life? Well, try investing a little more in that tree of yours. Try watering it frequently, and see if it won’t start producing these wonderful life- and world-changing fruits. It’s impossible to spend time close to the heart of God and not be transformed, just as it’s impossible to water the acerola tree and not soon see an abundance of delicious fruit adorning its branches.

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Psalm 119:25 KJV – My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to your word!

John 6:63 NIV – The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you–they are full of the Spirit and life.

John 5:26 ESV – For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.