'Mango stage' - a lesson in waiting.

The place where the church is presently meeting is next to a mini-bus stage on the main road, this stage has been known as 'mango stage' due to the numbers of mango trees which had lined the road by the mini-bus stage. However a few years ago those trees were cut down to make way for new electricity power lines to pass over head. This presently means the mango trees in our property are now the closest to the stage. We have four trees and each has produced fruit each year more often than not.

In the streets the mango trees are stripped of mango's in weeks - well before the fruit is ripe and enlarged. I have often seen children throwing stones to get the smallest of green mangos off the trees. The act of waiting for fruit to be ready to pick is a act of patience, not always easy - especially if you think someone else will get it instead of you. This ultimately means we don't wait, rather we think of ourselves before the quality of the fruit which is to be eaten, leaving the trees empty of fruit; and what we have consumed either bitter and certainly not as big as it could have been. We don't want to leave the fruit to long else it becomes too ripe and can often be eaten by the bird, or some large fruit bats which we have in our area. We have had mango poachers in the past, and those who have seen the fruit and banged on our gate and asked to get some. As a church recently, families have been able to take bag full's or chitenji full's of mangos home to enjoy.

As Christians we need to live fruitful lives, but we need real fruit, fruit that is sweet and not bitter, from what I understand 'Namiwawa' is rooted in the meaning 'bitter-waters', the deep bitterness in the society and in peoples lives due to sin and the darkness that blinds people from the light of Jesus Christ is often evident; this bitterness needs a transforming work so that it can be made sweet - this is the power of the work of the cross. As Christians we need to wait for real fruit in our lives, the church needs to grow in patient waiting upon the Lord to experience the sweetness of the work of the Holy Spirit, so that others may see and begin to taste the goodness of the Lord Jesus. the world needs to see Christians living lives that display goodness and not sourness, the people of God must be patient and learn to produce fruit faithfully year by year. The bible tells us we will be known by our fruit (Matthew 7:16)...bad fruit...bad tree...good fruit...good tree, its so simple.

Matthew Armstrong
Blantyre.
Issue 15 10th Jan 2010