Fruit In Its Season

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control….

......all evidence of the Spirit’s touch upon a life.

The Spirit’s fruit, although each different, an origin from One.

For many, the subject lends itself to frustration as we measure each particular fruit, looking to find it on the vine of our lives.

As we inspect, yes, there are short glimpses of each fruit here and there along the vine, but no great harvest.  Suddenly discouragement surfaces, sadness that there is not more peace, more joy, more gentleness, ready for harvest….and let’s not forget patience…long alluded patience.

Spiritual shoulders drop as we turn to leave the vineyard in despair.  I know the Spirit’s within, I feel Him…but why doesn’t Galatians 5:22 trace an image this life?

 

My friend, may I lift your downcast chin? Would you listen to me with your eyes? Listen with the windows to your soul?

Every fruit has a season…….Apples enjoy their abundance in the fall,  some oranges find their peak in winter, watermelon is its yummiest in July.

But they’re not always on the vine.  Not in all places.  Sometimes their vines or trees look bare, almost void of life.

Winter has robbed this small sapling of its beautiful robe of green, but if you listen to the windows of your soul, look closely -

upon what seems lifeless, there is evidence of life.  Evidence of something new growing.  Something that will soon bud, producing a leaf - fruit for the tired branch.

 

Sometimes the leaves grow in what seems like piles of jumbled sticks, making no sense to the heart -

   

Sometimes the tender leaves burst forth in thorn laden lands, but tender leaves they still are.  Evidence of life.  Evidence of growth.  Evidence of fruit to come.

 When traveling to your heart's vineyard,  celebrate the buds, celebrate the tender shoots, for they are evidence of life.  Evidence of a bloom, evidence of a season for a fruit soon to come........Trust the Spirit's work, if you allow it, He WILL BRING A HARVEST.  What now looks bare on these branches in a few short weeks will be covered with lush green leaves.  This little tree will be robed in its green glory, and when the right season comes, you, my sister, will be a fruitful vine.

Every fruit has its season.

Royal Princess Daughter Of The King

I Spy Friday

Remember when we played I Spy a few weeks ago? We all had fun with that post, so I thought we would try it again today.  If you need to be brought up to speed, click here for what we did last time. 

Here goes, my friends -

I spy with my little eye something about our God.....

I spy with my little eye something about our God and it's in Psalms 65:2

Now - you look around in Psalms 65:2 and see if you can figure out what it is.

When you do, post a comment letting us know you found it. Don't say what it is so that everybody gets a chance to play, just say something like "I got it!" or "I figured it out."

I'll post the answer in a few days and you can see if you were right!

Have a great weekend!  Love you all.



Royal Princess Daughter Of The King

It's Not the How, It's the Who.

Earlier this week we got in on a little conversation between God and Job.  Every time I read the words penned in Job describing the strength, power, authority, and majesty of Jehovah God, I am awestruck at the vastness of Who He Is. 

I am awestruck and amazed that this BIG God capable of BIG things is also God of the small, like me. 

Sometimes when my thoughts go to that place of how powerful He is, my heart is quickened to the meaning of the reverent fear of God, but recently it developed into more than that in my heart. 

Yes, He wants me to have the respectful fear of Him, but I think He also wants me to realize how powerful He is, what He is capable of,  how detailed He is - not only so I fear Him, but so that I can completely trust Him. 

Do you get what I mean here? 

If He is responsible for and capable of all those things we read about in Job, there is nothing to big for Him to handle.  There is no situation in my life too great for His steering.

He makes me aware of all of this so that I. Can. Trust. Him.

When I was a little girl, in my eyes there wasn't anything that Daddy couldn't handle, no broken bicycle that he couldn't repair, and no 10th grade bully of his 2nd grade daughter that he wouldn't quickly address and correct.  Somewhere along the way, our little girl problems are replaced with big girl problems that our daddies can't necessarily fix. 

Do you see?  Because I know how BIG He is, I can see how small my problem is.  I can grasp His big hand with my little one, and as a child, walk alongside Him knowing Daddy will take care of it.   We can have that little girl faith again just knowing the strength of our Abba.  There is no problem too big for Him. 

Often we are faced with something that seems too big and our first thought is how is this going to work out, which pulls our eyes away from Who can work it out.   Have you ever noticed the order and similarity of those two words, made up of only three letters?  If you put the "w" in front, you no longer have how, but who.  He is the One who is the answer, and we longer have to dwell on the how.  It's not the how, it's the Who.

Just dwell on Who.

How can I pray for you today? Do you have a problem that seems big right now?




Royal Princess Daughter Of The King

This post is linked with Living Well Wednesdays