Day 19: God is Growing Me

"By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." Galatians 5:22

For the next few months Malcolm and I are leading a Sunday School Class on the "Fruit of the Spirit." True to form for both of us, we have been "cramming" to prepare. Hmmmm, maybe that says something about faithfulness and self-control. Anyway, diving into the material we have unearthed has been fascinating. Pouring over the commentary from great minds, consuming.

A couple of themes emerge...Fruit of the Spirit is about God working in us, not us trying to be God; a change in character that usually evolves over time; it brings us closer to God's purposes.

In our discussions I had mistakenly referred to the "fruits of the Spirit." Malcolm gently corrected me and mentioned he had made the same mistake, but that is singular, FRUIT of the Spirit. This is puzzling, almost like one fruit with nine attributes. I guess we aren't supposed to pick and choose which one we want to grow.

I am reminded of an afternoon with my spiritual director, Sr. Mary McGeehee. I was lamenting about not seeing many "results" in my life. Mary smiled at me lovingly and reminded me, "be patient, God is growing you." Isn't that lovely? "God is growing you."

It is easy for us to get pretty wrapped up in what we can DO to be better. This fruit of the Spirit stuff though, it seems to point to a way of BEING. I wonder, how can I be open to the Spirit moving in me? How can I let go of RESULTS and embrace bearing good fruit? What is the difference? Perhaps I am not qualified to lead this class, I have many more questions than answers. Oh well, maybe I'll just be still and know God is God!

Take as much time as you like and ponder, "God is growing me." Write, paint, dance...whatever moves you a response to this phrase, "God is growing me." Namaste.