I grew up on Greenville Farm in Haymarket, Virginia. There were chickens, cows, sheep, hogs, and a HUGE garden. My sister Linda and I were well acquainted with every single row in that garden. We learned early that summer vacation days always began the same way.
Breakfast, work clothes, and to the garden we marched. I dreaded the potatoes—spiders lurked! Yikes!
Picking green beans was backbreaking, arduous work. Then there was corn, tomatoes, and even cantaloupe!
Then home for lunch, snapping green beans on our small porch for Mom to can. She canned ALL NIGHT in our basement kitchen.
The canned beans, corn, peas, and tomatoes sure tasted good in the frosty winter months.
Our garden yielded nourishment, comfort, and reward!
God has given every believer a beautiful garden. Through God’s grace, the Holy Spirit lives within us and gives us the fruit of the Spirit. This fruit is a result of His presence in our lives.
His work transforms us as we mature in our walk with Jesus. The fruit of the Holy Spirit is a testament to His work in us. He lives within us, so the fruit’s nourishment and goodness are always available.
We just have to pick it! We can choose JOY when despair comes, PEACE in chaos, KINDNESS instead of callousness, PATIENCE instead of willfulness, GOODNESS in the face of evil, FAITHFULNESS when we just want to quit, GENTLENESS instead of anger, SELF-CONTROL when temptation visits, and LOVE when our own wounds are still bleeding.
This garden feeds our souls in hardship and in the everyday.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23)
~ Vickie Richey
Christ Fellowship