I’ve enjoyed participating in this 31 Days Writing Challenge. Writing every day meant moments of joy every day, no matter what else was happening. So, thanks to Kate and the FMF community for helping me enjoy the challenge and hopefully, improve my writing habits in the process. I was able to post all 31 days (that was challenging!) this year, a first in the three years I’ve participated.

Learning more about the Fruit of the Spirit, as we focused on Ephesians 5:22-23 in this series, and sharing it with friends has been an even greater joy.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

The Holy Spirit cultivates the soil of our souls, plants the seeds, and waters until each produces His fruit. Throughout the sanctification process, we are conformed to the image of Christ. Wow! That is a weighty statement.

I’m no theologian, but I love the Lord and this is how I see it. I look at the day of salvation, the day we accept Jesus and put off the old self and put on the new self, as the beginning. We are changed but this new garden still needs pruning and feeding as it grows The Holy Spirit is the gardener who does the work as we begin to resemble Christ.

It takes time to produce a perfect bounty and that is why we have our Helper, promised by Jesus. Thank you, Lord, for keeping Your promises! We could not do this on our own.

Life, in all its majesty and messiness, must be for something other than self. The fruit of the Spirit is what we gain, along with a maturity of the soul, as we progress in our Christianity.

We change. Our focus rights itself, with the Spirit’s help, and we begin to exemplify God’s gifts more each day. And if we’re lucky, though luck has nothing to do with it, there will be a desire to share them with others.

Follow that desire, my friend. Allow the Spirit to guide your way and enjoy life!

Go to the Table of Contents to read more posts in this series on the Fruit of the Spirit as they go live.

31 Days of Five Minute Friday Free-Writes, it’s a writing challenge hosted by Kate Motaung over at Five Minute Fridays. We write daily for five minutes using a prompt Kate provides. The point is to write. The prompt today is ENJOY.