FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT

Resolution. A promise. A declaration. A decision. I hear so many people making New Year’s resolutions. It seems the thing to do. The year is closing out. It’s time for a fresh start, a new perspective, some way to improve our lives.

I am reminded of Ebeneezer Scrooge in, “The Christmas Carol” and the story of how the ghosts that come to him teach him how to have compassion in his heart and to open his heart to love others again. That is the kind of resolution that resonates with me. I’m reminded during this time, that what I have to clean up most is who I am on the inside. Are there shadows within me I need to reveal? Is there someone I need to forgive in order for healing to occur? Have I forgiven myself for my own shortcomings? Is the way I’m living my life pleasing to God? And in all things, am I constantly striving to seek the face of God? And not only the choices I make in my life, but am I responding to life and to the choices of others in the way God would have me? And do I strive for God’s will and open my heart so I may be ready to receive the gift of unconditional love God has for me, for my life, so I may experience His presence and to share that light with others? Do I really hear and heed the cries of help of others? Do I worship and glorify God with my whole life?

When I think of resolutions, I think the best place to start is to learn to trust God more and more. I want my life to be a gift back to God for all the blessings he’s poured out on my life. And even in a year that has had its share of challenges, there is so much I have learned and so many ways I see the face Christ. For it is through the storms of life that I’ve learned the most about the faithfulness of God and that my own faith has been strengthened, because there is much yet to learn.

So I want to make my resolve, my promise, to be all of who God created me to be. This isn’t an easy task, but it is what I want to strive for and with God’s help, and help of my band of angel friends who surround me with encouragement on my walk with God, I know I can move in the right direction. It is my prayer. It is my promise.

As I was thinking of what I would resolve to work on within me, this scripture from Galatians 5:22-23 came to me: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Which one among us cannot develop each of these fruits as a model of how to live our life in Christ?

I think about the challenges we face. They are actually gifts to mold us into something more. They don't seem it at the time. But constantly, looking back, I can see how God refined my heart through times of challenge and struggle. These fruits of the Spirit teach me how to be better than I am. They teach me that I will fall, but in all things striving for these gifts that Christ best showed as he walked on this earth, are examples of how to live my life.

So, as I make my resolutions, as I pray my promises, as I make my decisions to walk with Christ more passionately, more seriously, in a more committed walk, may God guide me and hold onto to me so I can truly become the faithful disciple he has planned me to be.