By Their Fruits

First it was an email and then a follow-up phone call.  The name I did not recognize.  But as I read the email, clues began to emerge.  The person contacting me was a student in my classes more than three decades ago!  I was not surprised that I did not recognize the name.  He would have been one of twenty or thirty in a class of seven or more classes in my second year of teaching.  There have been hundreds, probably thousands, of students in and out of my life in more than three decades. 

Of course, theologically I would affirm that each of us is a unique human being.  Each of us is created in the image and likeness of God.  Sure, all of us “image” the same God.  But we are not “spitting images” of each other, as my grandfather would say.  So David, as I will call him, was not someone whose name triggered my memory bank. 

Of course, none of us is a name alone.  There must be tens of thousands of guys named David in this country alone.  He may even share a last name with some other Davids.  But he is unique.  Only he---that unique David---has lived his life, has experienced his experiences, and become the child of God he has become.  That David was now contacting me. 

That David, too, has grown up.  He had graduated from college and had gone on to medical school.  He is now a successful physician married to another physician and now has two kids.  One of those kids is college age and David and family were in town to check out my college.  So we met in the parking lot! 

I recognized him when he emerged from the car.  His hair is greying, but so has mine!  It was nice to meet his wife and his two children.  Our conversation was a strange mixture of memories of David and me in a classroom long, long ago and anticipation of what it might be like to have his son in my classroom in some distant future.   

I had to laugh.  There I was---stuck in the middle of the past and the future.  Maybe that is always where the present is lived---stuck in the middle of the past and the future.  Seldom is it so stark as it was in that moment.  In some ways I did not know how to process it.  What was I to make of it?  A few thoughts began to form and to which I can give voice. 

In the first place I give thanks for awareness.  I realize it is a real gift of being human that I can be aware.  I can be aware of a past and aware of a future that I probably have.  Thanks be to God!  I am not traversing life merely by going through the motions.  I am trying to make a difference.  To make a difference is another way of saying I am trying to live my life with meaning and purpose.  I am sure you are, too.

So when David came back into my life through an email, a phone call, and then in person, I had a great chance to see the past become present.  I had not touched his life in more than 30 years was my first thought.  And at the literal level, that was true.  I had not talked to him nor seen him in more than 30 years. 

However, I think there are multiple levels of impact.  The biblical passage from Matthew’s gospel came into my mind.  In the middle of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus says, “By their fruit you will recognize them.” (Mt 7:16)  I laughed again.  I am not prone to having biblical verses pop into my head.  But the verse was perfect and helped me see the situation in a light that I liked. 

David was a fruit of my work more than 30 years ago.  I recall almost nothing I would have done in the class that we had together.  Probably that does not matter.  Apparently, I made in impression and, perhaps, had an impact.  How else would one explain why he would bother to contact me?  I have no favors to offer; there is no special deal coming from me.  All we have are some interesting, mutual memories. 

But he is the fruit of my work.  He gives me a sense of meaning and purpose for what I do.  It cannot be measured in money or other tangible means.  But it is real.  I am lucky to see him at this “fruit stage.”  Thirty some years ago, I was planting seeds in his life.  I was cultivating his potentiality and clear capabilities.  Perhaps, I was sowing hope in his imagination.  Maybe I helped stoke the dream of service than he now renders as a physician and father.  

I feel lucky.  It is easy to work for days, weeks, or even years and have little clue whether one is making a difference.  For long periods I am not aware at all whether there will be any legacy---any fruit that results from the activity.  David has given me assurance that my life and work have born fruit. 

We are all living in the present---sandwiched between the past and the future.  Make sure who you are and what you are doing brings the possibility of making a difference.  Make sure that by your fruit you can be recognized.  In the present there is always that chance and that choice.  Don’t waste it with rotten stuff.