“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control Against such things there is no law.” ~ Galatians 5:22-23

I have a little peach tree in a pot on my patio. I don’t go out there every now and then to yell at it, berate it, or tell it to grow peaches. The branches stay attached to the trunk which stays attached to the roots which are in good soil and the tree simply bears peaches in season because it is a peach tree. The picture above is what the little tree graced me with the second year that I had it.

I wonder why, then, myself included, do we berate and guilt ourselves over our perceived lack of growing in spiritual fruit? Or maybe we don’t think we are growing fast enough. We do not expect trees to grow at the same rate the morning glory vine does. Why do we compare our growth to the growth of those around us? Perhaps we are frustrated because there appears to be no current growth or fruit, however, we don’t expect fruit trees to bear in the winter.

By the same token, I don’t feed my peach tree toxic waste. That would kill it, make it sick, or make the fruit it might bear toxic. So it is with us. It matters not only what we feed our bodies, but also what we feed our minds. Do the books we read, the movies we watch, the songs we listen to, and the entertainment we take part in nourish our spirits, or like toxic waste, weaken our spirits and make the fruit we bear (if any) toxic?

So what’s the point? How do we bear fruit at the proper season? Simple. We hang out with God in our quiet time each day. No matter how old we become, the ones we associate with still have an impact on our lives, so let’s spend time with God, letting him and his ways rub off on us, affecting the way we think and act. And let’s leave the type and timing of the fruit up to God.

Let’s pray: Father, we get impatient with ourselves, believing we should be growing more or different fruit faster or even continuously. Help us to remember you are the Master Gardener.