Galatians 5:1, 13-25

Pentecost +5 - Year C

Galatians 5:1, 13-25

We often look at the fruits of the spirit as though they were pickable right now. One of the realities is that they need manure and clean air and sun to nurture them to fruition. Many of us need to attend to one Anonymous group or another to provide the space needed for their growth.

A downside of seeing these gifts as fully mature, is the discouragement that comes when we don't measure up to these goals or results. At those moments when we do what we don't want to or refrain from acting when we should, we too quickly judge a growing fruit against a 4-H Fair Blue Ribbon Winner and give up. This is particularly galling in the area of patience.

There is no law against or limit on any of these blessings, regardless of their stage of faithfulness.

Here's a blog post you might appreciate, Dan Dick's Methodeviations that talks about the interconnectedness between the fruits of the spirit, not just their degree of maturity. Playing back and forth between Dan's image and this one, is a helpful spot to be.

You may also appreciate a connection with discipline and resultant (in the context of worship) as described by Evelyn Underhill in The Fruits of the Spirit:

Each person's discipline will be different because what God wants from each of us is different. Some are called to an active and some to a passive life, some to very homely and some to hard and sacrificial careers, some to quiet suffering. Only the broad lines will be alike. But no discipline will be any use to us unless we keep in mind the reason why we are doing this--for the Glory of God, and not just for the sake of our own self-improvement or other self-regarding purpose. Our object is to be what God wants of us, not what we want. So all that we do must be grounded in worship. First lift up our eyes to the hills, then turn to our own potato field and lightly fork in the manure.