A Constant Reminder

Galatians 5:22-25
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. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Alright.
Confession time.

Do you know how long I have tried to memorize the Fruit of the Spirit.
And not only to memorize...but then to try my hardest to display the Fruit in my life.

Try to be patient, Jodi!
Try to be loving, Jodi!
Come on, Jodi...just try to have a little self-control!

Try as I might, I just couldn't seem to produce that Fruit.

There it is..."Try as I might..."

Then, several years ago, I heard Joyce Meyer speak on the Fruit of the Spirit.
Something she said made such a difference in my life.
She said that when we invite Jesus into our lives, the Holy Spirit takes up residence inside of us. Along with the Holy Spirit comes His Fruit.

So...I have the Fruit of the Spirit inside of me.
I don't have to try to get it.
It just needs time to mature...time to grow.

No longer do I have to try...I need to abide.
To rest in Jesus and know that He will be the one doing the work...if only I can figure out how to abide in Him.

I struggle with abiding.
I struggle with trusting.

Lately, I have found that I still struggle with the trying.
I am still trying to produce that Fruit!

One day a couple of weeks ago, I was inspired!
I felt this strong urge to go out to the schoolroom, get my unused sentence strips, and write each Fruit on a piece of the strip.
Then, I stuck them up in the kitchen...right where I see them many times, every single day.




What has that done for me?

Now, when I am struggling with patience, I look up there and see the word "Patience." It reminds me that I have patience just waiting to be exercised!
So, I stop and pray...asking the Lord to please display His patience in me.

When I'm wiping macaroni and cheese off the floor, I look up and see the word "Kindness." I ask God to please help me to be kind...even though I am really wanting to gripe and complain about having to clean up such a sticky mess.

Those Oreo cookies in the cookie jar?
Lord! Please help me to use self-control!

The other great-big blessing that has come from having the Fruit of the Spirit posted in the kitchen is that the kids see it everyday too. We can just stop and talk about being gentle with each other. Or we can talk about being peaceful. We can stop and pray together to God...telling Him how we long to have that Fruit displayed in our lives.

That has been the abiding for me.
The reminder to turn to Jesus for patience, for gentleness, for joy.
So often, my day goes by in such a blur, that I forget to stop and ask for what I need. I forget to abide in Him.
This has been my constant reminder to abide.

Abiding together,