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USE YOUR GIFTS TO MAXIMUM AND POUR LIKE A CORNUCOPIA POUR FORTH 'FRUITS OF GOD'

The truth is as it shows itself, in the end, in the fruits, to be. Ponder those words for a moment. Everything comes through out in the wash. There's no real hiding. We'll find that out when we die. In the end there is the reduction that separates us from falsity.

The truth comes out -- all of it -- whether here or in the hereafter.

What'll pour from you?

What's pouring out now?

What are your fruits? They reflect the truth of who you are and where in the afterlife you will be.

At Thanksgiving time, we see images all around of the cornucopia -- that "horn of plenty" with fruits and vegetables spilling forth. We're the same. We release fruit into the world, or are supposed to. How are your "vegetables"?

Most importantly, are there enough of them, and of the right quality (below the surface)?

Are they healthful and ripened just right -- round (if the vegetable is round) and without rot or disease or mishandling? 

That means planting yourself in the right place, seeing the sun as much as possible, making sure you are firmly rooted, and cooperating with what is around you.

In life, we should always view ourselves as cornucopias -- and we should always seek to be yielding as much good, true fruit, healthful fruit, not cosmetic fruit -- as possible.

That comes only when we are constantly and unselfishly open to the Holy Spirit -- letting Him flow through us.

The more we yield, the more He sends, and the more health comes with it.

Think of His Spirit like crystal-pure water. The more you drink, the more you refresh your cells and expel impurities. It strengthens you as it passes through. It carries toxins away. Spiritual toxins. Emotional toxins.

Toxins are discarded while impurities are used like fertilizer when we expel them instead of holding them in us. Look the the fig: when Christ sees a tree bear fruit, He nurtures it, while the opposite occurs with a tree that is rotting or holding everything in for itself.

The Holy Spirit is the living waters that grant us health, and He comes in proportion to how much we yield.

We are all given gifts in this life, and when we produce to the max, we pour forth in true plenty.

There are many gifts in life. Do we use them to their fullest? Do we find the gifts we uniquely possess and share the plenty?

That brings us health because when we are producing what He wants us to produce, we are clearing our "vessels" for yet more of His ministering Spirit, and we are exercising our "muscle" (to use another metaphor). The more we use our muscles, the firmer they get.

You'll be amazed at the pleasant turns in your life when you are yielding fruit at full throttle -- from all your gifts -- without second-guessing. (Constantly, there will be good surprise.)

When we don't produce -- when we're not using all our gifts, on all cylinders -- there can be a block, a logjam. That can cause illness.

When we're "stopped up," there is frustration. There is lack of meaning. There is anxiety. We are stagnant.

Flush that away by using your gifts and producing like a valuable plant -- not necessarily a plant that yields the best-looking fruit on the surface, but a plant that yields the largest healthful crop.

It is falsity that makes a fruit look better than it is, but it can not escape ultimate detection.

"My family and I love to pick apples in the fall and I couldn't help visualize all the different kinds of apple trees," wrote a woman named Jenny Bryans from London after a recent article we had on a similar topic. "I am always amazed at how full and bright red the red, delicious kind of apple trees are. They are always overflowing with ripe red apples and beautiful to look at -- but no one ever seems to pick apples from them, they just don't have great flavor, kind of bland tasting, especially compared to other apples like Macintosh ( my favorite)! It always seems like such a shame and I always felt kind of bad for those trees and it seemed so wasteful; surely those apples must be good for something? So full and yet no one picks from them, kind of sad and lonely. 

"How so like us. People can produce a lot and have a lot and it can look so pretty and plentiful but it  doesn't do any good for others, what a waste, what a shame, how lonely that person must be."

Precisely.

There are always trials in life, but joy comes much more frequently (in a regular, balanced fashion) to those who are doing all they can to use the gifts God has given them. Miracles abound! They occur regularly. What are your gifts? How do you use them? How often do you use them? There is the gift of patience. There is the gift of prayer. There are many skills that are gifted to us. There is the gift (above all) of love.

Ask the Holy Spirit what your gifts are (in their entirety). Ask Him to guide you in how to use them. For when you use them to the max, you are not only bearing cleansing fruit but fulfilling something that is totally crucial: your life mission!

[resources: The Other Side]