(1) "The date palm is a very salt tolerant tree and will grow well in alkaline soils where other plants will not. They are sometimes irrigated with ocean water ... (2) Date palms are like giant solar collectors. They require at least 100 sunny days of 100 degrees for best fruit production. Over the 7 month growing season, which includes Summer, they store the intense energy of the desert in their fruit." (datepeople.net)
We can learn some lessons from dates. We can learn to "grow well where others will not" and we can "store intense energy".
Many of us are exposed to an environment where our Christianity is persecuted and mocked: places where corruption is a norm -- using words like "S.O.P (It's Standard Operating Procedure)" as a "gentle and justified way" to practice corruption; where cheating (especially amongst classmates) is considered being a true friend; where pre-marital sex is "okay" and those practicing chastity are ridiculed; where keeping your job means doing the illegal; and many more instances where many just succumb to the temptations of "practicality." In these situations, we are reminded by Mark 8:36: "What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?". Let us decided to uphold our Christianity even when difficult; to bear fruit where we are planted by God by spreading His Gospel. Grow well where others will not. How do we thrive in a "non-Christian" environment? We must absorb and store the intense energy of the Holy Spirit. Through prayer and God's grace in the power of the of the Holy Spirit -- we can "collect energy" to be able to ward off temptations and have the strength to be true witnesses in word and in deed.
1. Describe your work/school environment. What are situations where you are "forced' to compromise your Christianity?
2. How can you improve your time of prayer to have the spiritual energy to battle these situations?
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