A fruity presence

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Gal 5:22-23

Today I checked off peace and kindness but the self-control was pretty shaky. There’s always tomorrow. I’m not sure if I was gentle with the new clerk at the store who stumbled over the cash register. Probably not patient, either. Oops, Lord, here’s my quick confession while I’m rushing on to my next appointment. I’ll grit my teeth and work harder on self-control. That’ll probably spring lose some of those other traits in me, too.

The infamous Galatians fruit list is not of power (then it would be strength, might, arms) but of person. These are not words of warfare but of relationship. I can’t check off the ones I’m doing well on, figuring to work on the others at some point. This isn’t a list conquered by my determination.

These are God’s way of relating to his people. This is his fruit. We fear God is fickle. Instead, he is love. We fear he is erratic. He is self-control. We fear he withholds so that he can slap our hand. But he is patient and kind, gentle and faithful. The fruit is found in his presence.

God offers us himself as the fruit of our relationship. His presence heals my wounded heart. I enjoy the fruit as I am filled with his Spirit. Then it just flows out of me, too.

Today I checked off the fruit I thought I achieved. But I should have run to my Father’s arms and basked in the fruit of our love. I should have pushed my independence out of the way to let his Spirit flow in to me. I should have received his fruit, not tried to achieve it. The new clerk would have appreciated it, too.