I both hated and loved July in Haiti. Hated it because it was by far the hottest month of the year. And loved it because it was the month of avocados.

At our little house, we had an avocado tree. From the flat, cement roof I could reach onto my tippy toes and pick green avocados the size of my hand. Baskets full. Throughout the month of July, my family ate avocados with eggs for breakfast, on our sandwiches for lunch, and over just about anything we’d scrounge up for dinner.

Here’s the thing about this avocado tree though. We didn’t plant it. Some guy, whose name I don’t even know, planted it 10 or so years prior to us even moving there. We never put a minute of labor into the growth of that tree, yet year after year we enjoyed the fruit it bore.

Ministry can be a lot like that, too. Just the other day I threw up my hands and said, “What’s the point?” to a coworker when discussing the lack of growth in a few of the youth from our program. “We are continuously pouring into these kids, and for what?”

And then, right before I could continue on my downward spiral of doubt, God gently directed my eyes to the calendar: It’s July. Time to enjoy the avocados.

1 Corinthians 3:6-9 is a familiar passage for many. Still, if you are anything like me, it is an easy one to forget. We labor and we toil. We harvest the ground and we plant seeds. We spend our money. Our time. Our energy. And often, just like the man who planted my avocado tree in Haiti, we never get to witness the growth or enjoy the fruit our work produces. Someone else does.

So why labor? As I put it the other day, “What’s the point?”

According to verses 8 and 9, we labor because it is our purpose to be God’s coworkers. We work. God will provide the growth. And one day, with much prayer, someone will be blessed with a basket full of avocados.