Kiwi, Holy Spirit-Style
“I think I can do it if you’re up for the challenge,” my man responded.
“I WANT to be up for the challenge,” I admitted, “but I may need some supernatural help to really make it happen.”
Sticking to a budget, cooking healthier, refusing to indulge my selfish spirit’s tendancy to grumble, thinking on what is true and right, noble and pure- these are grand and worthy resolutions, but nearly impossible to achieve on my own. It doesn’t matter how many times I write the goal across a fresh page of my weekly planner, nor how many friends applaud my intentions and vow to hold me accountable, without a steady dose of the Holy Spirit’s fruit, I am a woman incapable of change.
Acknowledging my desperate need for self control is a rather new step for me. Goodness knows it’s easy enough to name someone else’s need for that elusive fruit of the Spirit. It’s inarguable that my toddler could use a giant bite of self-control when she’s sprawled snow-angel style on the grocery store floor. So could my pre-teen when he’s stuck in front of the X-Box with homework unfinished, and my sugar-loving ten-year-old when she’s eating the cookie dough straight out of the mixing bowl… Why is it so easy to spot everyone else’s need for exactly what our own life lacks?
I remember well the first time my mother offered me a kiwi- not a cute little bite of the naked green fruit, but the whole thing. There it sat, on the edge of my plate, offensively fuzzy and brown. Having grown up primarily on “common fruits” –apples, oranges, and bananas–I had never seen nor tasted a kiwi before. I remember picking it up, rolling its soft shape in my hands and wondering just exactly what it was. Was it a small potato that needed a shave or an overgrown nut that had grown a winter coat? Was I supposed to cut it, bite it or just look at it?
I watched closely as my mom peeled away the outer skin of her own strange fruit and began to slice oblong pieces of the exotic green flesh hidden inside. When she offered to help me cut into my own kiwi, I politely shook my head and assured my mom that I was full. With a shrug and a smile, she helped herself to my kiwi as well, and left me to watch in wonder as she popped bite after juicy bite into her mouth, then politely excused herself to clear the dishes. “Kiwi’s fine for my mom,” I thought to myself as I put my dishes into the sink, “but I can live with out it!” Years later, when my college roommate convinced me to try a kiwi strawberry smoothie, I learned that the strange green fruit did, indeed, add a delicious twist to some of my favorite treats.
To be honest, I’ve often viewed the fruit of self-control a bit like I first saw the kiwi. It’s fine for other, but I can live without it! After all, it looks kind of hard to peel; tastes a bit sour in the first bite, and just doesn’t hit the spot like a crispy red apple or a juicy sweet peach. I favor love, joy, peace, and patience, maybe a few bites of kindness, goodness and faithfulness. In an attempt to rationalize my disinterest, I had convinced myself that I was “healthy enough” without all the Spirit’s fruit. Surely God was satisfied with a life that produced at least some of His famous qualities. In the end, my partial fruit production certainly looked better than the lives without a single bud, right?
My rationale worked for a while, but then I listened to a speaker who challenged me to ponder just why the Divinely-inspired Apostle Paul had refered to the eight qualities listed in Galatians 5:22-23 as the fruit of the Spirit rather than the fruits of the Spirit. Seems like an impertinent matter of detail, but as this Bible scholar explained, the specific wording was intentional, indeed. A life truly surrendered to the Lord does not merely produce one fruit or another, but an entire cornucopia of fruit.
The life of Jesus did not merely display love; it also burst forth with joy, peace, patience, and all the rest of the characteristics that reveal His Father’s heart. In other words, the individual qualities listed as the Spirit’s produce are actually all meant to be tasted together. As a whole, they create one DELICIOUS serving of divine fruit. According to authors of The Fruit of the Spirit, Thomas Trask and Wayde Goodall, “We believe that God planned for the list of fruit in Galatians to begin with love and end with self-control. The ability to have self-control comes as a result of our growing in the preceding eight qualities… When we are loving, we are more joyful. When we have love and joy, we have peace. When we have love, joy, and peace, patience is their companion. Kindness will naturally emanate from a disposition of love, joy, peace, patience, and goodness. With these portions of the fruit functioning, a foundation is laid for self-control, which allows us to live a life of balance…”
And balance is precisely what I’m hoping the budget will do when this spending-prone woman takes a heaping bite of the Spirit’s kiwi!
Any one else out there need a bite, too?
Today’s Treasure: But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. -Galatians 5:22
