Once upon a time, there was a peach pit. Someone had eaten the peach one hot summer day and tossed the seed into the nearby woods. The soil was dark and rich, and the seed harbored itself there as it slowly grew into a slender, young peach tree, bearing few but delicious fruits.

How many times do we unknowingly plant seeds from the fruits of the Spirit? Maybe someday we'll find they have grown into strong, sturdy young trees! More important, are we planting seeds from sweet peaches or sour lemons?

Though I personally believe in thinking positive, how about we think of a few biblical lemons? There was Nabal, first mentioned in 1 Samuel 25:2-3 where it says, "Now there was a man in Maon…and the man was very rich… The name of the man was Nabal…the man was harsh and evil in his doings."

Later in the story God "struck Nabal, and he died" (1 Samuel 25:38). God clearly does not like such sour lemons. But let's remember some good that came out of the story of Nabal. In verse 3 it says, "and the name of his wife [was] Abigail. And she was a woman of good understanding and beautiful appearance." How did a girl like that get stuck with a guy like him? Perhaps at some point the lemon looked a lot like a peach!

But let's also note that lemons can become peaches, like in Acts when Saul the persecutor was converted and became Paul the apostle—talk about a really good peach!

But what if we have a personal lemon? In Revelation 3:12, Christ promises us, "He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God… I shall write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem… And I will write on him My new name." What a time to look forward to while we "overcome" our personal lemons!

We need to toss peaches into the world, not lemons. We are told in 1 Timothy 4:12 to "be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity." You never know who is watching, but we do know God sees all things.

Psalm 1:1-6 says, "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the L ord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the L ord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish."

What seeds do you leave behind—sweet peaches or sour lemons?