I was at the grocery store the other day, trying to pick out some avocados so my son could make guacamole (one of his specialties). I'd done this before, and I had sense of what I was looking for-- avocados that were just soft enough that you could push them in a bit, not so hard that they were like rocks, but not too mushy either. So I picked up a couple, pushed on them, kept one and put the other one down, and kept on going until I had 4 that felt about right. Perfect for their intended use-- making guac. If I wanted them to throw at someone who was trying to get me, or to use as a tool to break something, I would have gotten the rock-solid ones. But that wasn't the purpose I had in mind. So purpose is important in thinking about whether something-- a fruit or some other food, or some other earthly thing, or some action we make take-- is good or not. We need to ask what we're hoping to accomplish before we can determine is something is good. That's worth bearing mind when we think about today's Gospel (Mt 7: 15- 20) where Jesus tells us to determine whether or not something is good based on the fruit it bears. Good trees bear good fruit, He says, and rotten trees bear bad fruit. So we need to start off with an understanding of whether a fruit is good or bad, which turns on what the point of the fruit is (which, ordinarily is to use as food, but not necessarily). All that is by way of analogy, of course, to begin a discussion that is broader than plants and vegetables. It is a discussion about how to assess the behaviors, patterns, relationships and activities in our lives. Are the things in our lives causing us to bear good fruit, or are they rotten-- producing bad fruit-- and should be "cut down", ended? So we have to start with the basics. Why do we do what we do, and have the relationships that we have? What is the purpose? How do we assess what is "good" in that sense? At the most basic level, we are here to have a relationship with God-- to love God and to serve God. That plays out in the human experiences of joy, fulfillment, happiness, love. When we are in right relationship with God, these things are present in our lives, even if at the moment we are not even close to "having fun" or "enjoying ourselves." So "good fruit" means that we are right with God, experiencing the deep, profound joy that brings. "Bad fruit," of course, is the opposite-- drawing us away from God and into a place of selfishness, narcissism and, ultimately, separation. We might apply that set of metrics to our decisions and our relationships-- the "trees" in our lives. Do they bring us closer to God? Do we see the resulting joy, fulfillment, happiness, love? When we are have been with this person or that person, do we feel a bit closer to God afterwards, or at least a bit more filled with joy? Does what we read or see on the internet leave us more fulfilled, or less so? Do we feel we are more fully what God wants us to be, or moved in the opposite direction? Is love more present in or more absent from our lives when we log off? The image of cutting a fruit tree down is a powerful one, but it is what Jesus calls us to do with respect to those relationships and behaviors that are rotten, that bear bad fruit. Might be tough to do, but you probably feel in your heart already that it is the right thing to do. Think about it. Where in your life do things need to be pruned, dug out, cut down? What can you do to let the good trees flourish? How can you be more fully the person you are called to be-- a loving child of God?