By Their Fruit, You Will Know Them

Day 335 of Photo Inspirations -- By Their Fruit, You Will Know Them
This photo inspiration is a lovely, thoughtful token of appreciation from this precious group of women (two were missing from the photo) for my leading them in an 8-week Bible Study that started in early October.

When I was praying for wisdom on what the study should be about, I started thinking about the time of the year we were entering into -- the hustle, the bustle, the busy-ness that the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays present us.  In addition, I thought about all the opportunities we would be having to take the "higher road" when it comes to family get-togethers when a mis-spoken word or careless statement or a disappointing situation could surface.   Having love for some unlovable folks, finding peace in the midst of chaos, experiencing joy when folks may be getting on our last nerve -- can be quite a feat any time, but most certainly, the holidays can stir up all kinds of opportunities to decide -- love, peace, joy or anger, bitterness, crankiness. Remembering the scripture "What the heart is full of....the mouth speaks"  (Luke 6:45)-- certainly gives pause for giving ourselves a heart check up!

Then, just in the nick of time,  I remembered.....when we opened the door of our hearts to God....He walked through the door with a treasure chest full of everything we would need to overcome and be successful in every area of our life.  I had been watching some of the political debates and interviews and I started inspecting the candidates' "fruit" and I'll be honest with you, I was disappointed in how some of them were handling themselves.  It was difficult for me to recognize them as statesmen and political leaders that represented that "treasure chest" of sweet fruit.   But, then I clearly got the message "I'm not asking you to be their Fruit Inspector.  I'm asking you to inspect your own fruit."  That's when I knew God was telling me to speak about the Fruit of the Spirit and how we need to amp up that fruit in our own lives -- to be sure that what our hearts are full of, bears the Fruit of the Spirit qualities:  Galations 5:22,23 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control."

The Fruit of the Spirit in us is either flourishing or languishing.   If all these qualities are growing, then we'll be bearing sweet, tasty fruit in our lives.   As a fruit inspector, inspecting our own fruit, we know how we're doing.  Take, for instance, the Thanksgiving holidays, did you have times when you lost it (i.e., self-control, patience, kindness, gentleness).  I know I did. I had a melt down one day and had to find a quiet place, to regroup -- to get a grip -- to recognize which quality I needed to shore up.

What a joy it was to be with this little band of women over these 8 weeks.  They meet to share and care and pray and grow.  They stand in the gap for friends and loved ones who are hurting or going through tough times.  They celebrate each other's victories, and they unite as a force to be reckoned with in praying for each other. They have personal needs and personal pray requests, but they take all those Fruit of the Spirit qualities and walk out their faith. While I prepared and taught this study -- I was the recipient of God's Word that caused me to inspect what's in me.  Thank you, God, for your sweet way of leading us to green pastures, restoring our souls, and loving us enough to develop your character in us.  Now -- let's go prepare a tasty and sweet fruit salad that God's light shines brightly through us!

What Grows in Your Garden?

I saw a friend’s post a couple of days ago where she was asking for advice for getting rid of weeds in her garden. Comments to her post included: “Put newspaper around the plant – it will suffocate the weeds”; “Put grass clippings around the plant”; and I loved this one “Don’t plant a garden!” LOL!

That made me think about the weeds that may have grown in our heart’s garden – weeds of selfishness, pride, self-centeredness, laziness, bitterness, anger, envy, etc. Here's my advice: 1) First, cultivate the soil and add in a get mixture of fertilizer (prayer) ; 2) Plant the seeds of God’s Word (Bible reading and meditation); 3) Give the plants plenty of sunshine (speaking the light of God’s Word over the situations that may be troubling or concerning us); 4) Give the plants plenty of water (thanking, praising, trusting in God’s goodness and mercy to complete what He started, Proverbs 3:4,5 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths."

Then, get ready for an abundant harvest of sweet and beautiful fruit: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.......” Galatians 5:22,23

St. Paul said it perfectly in I Corinthians 3:6,7 – once we plant the seed…..God will make it grow! "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow." God is the Master Gardener, and what He plants, always yields a great harvest!