Though the fruit tree doesn't blossom (StF 93)

Ideas for use

With its repeated melody phrases, this is a relatively easy song to teach to a congregation. The melody line for the first three lines of each verse is repeated for the second three lines. Similarly, the first three lines of the refrain each begin with the same musical phrase.

More information

There's a strong feel of the psalms about this hymn - the idea that our praise of God can sound out clearly even while acknowledging that life can be tough. Human vulnerabiltiy is expressed in each verse:

When the night is overwhelming
and the day is far from clear,
when my heart is restless for the peace of God;
let your word, Lord, through the ages,
be the word that now I hear...

That vulnerability, and the uncertainties we live with daily, is set against the determined conviction of faith that returns with each refrain: "Yet I will praise him; I will lift my hands to my Redeemer.

Five of Geraldine Latty’s songs have been included in Singing the Faith. Known for her ministry at Spring Harvest and FocusFest (Northern Ireland’s largest event for Christian women), Geraldine was born into a West Indian family living in Crewe in Cheshire. Her upbringing was in the Pentecostal tradition, she has headed up a music department in a Catholic school in Bristol, and has “spent a number of years being a part of the Methodist Church”.

Her very personal hymn, Worship God with the morning sunrise (StF 68) describes with attractive words the nature of the God she worships:

You are beautifully different,
you are gracious in your thoughts.
You’re the friend who’s proven faithful,
you are love laid down for us.

In 2000, Geraldine left teaching to “see what God wanted to do with her time” and has found that invitations and opportunities to serve have continued to grow in number.

Read Tony Cummings’ 2003 interview with Geraldine for the Cross Rhythms website.