Why Aren't They Called the Vegetables of the Spirit?

Last week, I was doing some research on fruits and vegetables, and made a few interesting discoveries.  The vegetables we eat are usually single season crops, while most fruits come from plants (fruit trees) that continue to grow and mature from year to year.  There are exceptions, like strawberries, but in general, growing fruit takes a longer period of time to invest in nurturing the plants that it grows on.

Now the Bible makes multiple references to believers bearing fruit, and being recognized by that fruit.  Paul describes a variety of positive characteristics as Fruits of the Spirit.  Good fruit should be seen in the lives of believers.  The symbol of fruit was probably chosen, not just because it is nutritious and tastes good, but because it represents the harvest from a long-term commitment and endeavor.  The original audience of those passages would have been much more conscious of those unique characteristics of fruit, because they would have been more involved in that agricultural process.  Modern readers see fruits and vegetables as similar because they are both found in the same section of the grocery store.

The comparison between believers and fruit trees can be taken pretty far.  Both require someone to cultivate a decent environment for them to grow.  It takes a while before they really begin to produce good fruit.  That fruit can eventually lead to more fruit trees sprouting up around them.  There are many different types of fruit trees, and different types of fruit trees can be grafted together, to combine the strengths of each variant.  While an expert can tell what type a tree is by looking at the tree itself, the easiest way that even a casual observer can tell the type, is by examining the fruit it is bearing.

Pruning is usually necessary for most fruit trees in order to maximize the yield of fruit.  This involves cutting away and removing parts of the tree that are dead or sapping energy from the production of good fruit.  But this is not just a process of cutting the tree down to size; each cut must be carefully made as to not inhibit future growth.  Fruit trees can live for a long time, and produce a lot of fruit, but they do eventually age and die.

So what kind of fruit are we bearing?  Other person bearing different types of fruit is okay, but the Bible also mentions bad fruit to watch out for.  Do we recognize when God is pruning in our lives, and while it may be uncomfortable at the moment, how it helps us grow?