LOOKING FOR GOOD FRUIT

 We are having a good ole fashioned winter in Ontario this year. 

I've shovelled and shovelled until the snowbanks at the end of the driveway are higher than me.

I had to make a path off the deck and into the back yard for Lulu!

And yes I admit, it's pretty, but I've had enough! The unending onslaught of snow and frigid cold is wearing me down. 

Much like the news - the unending onslaught of anger, violence, chaos, confusion. It's wearing me down. I've had enough of the sneering, condescending broadcasts that pick apart to make their righteous point, stamping their feet and yelling I'm Right and You're Wrong. 

So, here's my plan: as far as winter goes, like Tom Petty, I won't back down. Already, the days are getting longer, the sun a wee bit warmer. Eventually, winter will lose its' grip. The whole of Ontario knows it. 

Meanwhile I do things that bring good results. 

I pulled out the leftover bacon fat in the fridge and rolled it in some bird seed. Then I hung it up in the tree for the sparrows, juncos and cardinals to enjoy.  

As for the news, I try to find a broadcast that just gives the facts, without all the hyperbole. 

And I look for the good fruit: love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self control, patience. Because a good tree (character) produces good fruit. And it goes without saying a bad tree (character) produces the opposite: hate, anger, chaos, violence, impatience, self-centeredness - you get the picture. 

Right now, the season seems long, cold and unending. But it will. And in the meantime, I will practice things that produce good character, like feeding birds in the dead of winter. 

Even a small act of kindness can make difference.