Once in a while in very pensive moments, most of us get to wondering what God really thinks of us as individuals. What does he think of the way we've managed our lives and handled our challenges so far? If we died tomorrow, would God be delighted to welcome us home, or would he be saddened to have us up so close? Are we good persons or not so good at all? We can wind ourselves into some fairly tangled knots with such questions and get no closer to the truth than we were when we began.
It's for that reason that today's gospel is a welcome source of clarity. Jesus tells us we can know for sure whether a tree is good or bad by checking its fruit. In the same way we can get a clear and reliable reading on who we are at our center by checking the patterns of our deeds. We all do things that are out of character at least once in awhile. But whether beautiful or ugly, such things are aberrations that don't define the essence of who we are. It's the big, consistent patterns of our deeds that tell the tale and infallibly speaks who we are.
Note, it's not what we'd like to do that tells us who we are, but what we actually do. If wishes were horse, beggars would ride. So check your deeds, not your wishes, check the big patterns, not the aberrations, and let what you see be your guide as you set the course for the next leg of your journey toward God.