“Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” Matthew 3:8
When we have driven off the road carelessly and recklessly, we can easily sit here, blindly sulking, blaming others for our demise. It’s so easy to slip into the thoughts of, “I wouldn’t have driven off the road, if they had not done what they did.” Or “if only they had….. I would not have done what I did.” Either way, it’s assigning full responsibility to someone else, rather than owning up for our part. There are indeed two sides to every story and usually the responsibility is resting on the backs of more than one person. That’s not always the case, but the only person we can change, is ourselves. The only remedy to the situation at hand is to focus on getting out. If we made a really poor choice that got us here, then we have to truly repent and turn away from that which drove us off the road. We can turn it around and head in a new direction, by asking God to forgive us and help us move forward, away from those actions and deeds.
Repeating to ourselves over and over again the gory details of what has happened, or what we did, may seem like progress or even therapeutic, but it’s not. It is a scratch in the record, getting us nowhere. It is done. It has happened. We must take the wheel and get back in control of our mind, focusing on the solutions instead of the problems. It is time to redirect and refocus our life on God, turning away from all the things that got us here in the first place. If someone drove you off the road carelessly and aggressively, maybe you need to repent of your unforgiveness towards them, their actions, their words. Is it easy? No, it is not, but we must if we want to truly move forward into a new life of Fruitfulness.
We can start by changing our words in our situation, speaking to the solution, not the past or the problem, or the perpetrator. Remember when Jesus asked the paralytic by the water, “Do you want to be healed?” I think we all answered yes to that.
Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. What fills and overflows from our heart? It’s abundance reveals our focus and our priorities. What will we give our time to? Speak words that give God the glory and encouragement to ourselves and those around us.
“Don’t you see that whatever enters through the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come from a person’s mouth come from the heart and these defile them.” Matthew 15:17
“A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” Luke 6:45
So for today, I want to use words that bring fruitfulness to my situation, repenting of anything that hinders the direction I want to go. I choose to think good thoughts that spill over into good words and good actions. 
God, you want me to obey you because you want what is best for me. Help me to be willing and eager to obey your word, your plans for me, even when I don’t really understand it. Give me wisdom and discernment each day to recognize your plan over my own, knowing the difference between the two. Help me to take the path you have laid out, the best plan for my life. In Jesus name, Amen

A FRUITFUL LEGACY 