The wonderful gardening of the Holy Spirit

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.  Gal 5:22 23

I have always loved planting things and watching them grow. When I lived in my home state of Ohio, tomatoes and roses were my favorite and most successful endeavors. Yet, there were any number of things that I loved to watch grow. My sweet daughter, Olivia, and I planted an acorn. Our expectations were met and then some when a beautiful red oak tree
emerged and grew to a lovely specimen.

Well, as you know, there's some great gardening going on inside each son and daughter
adopted into the family of our Heavenly Father. The gardener has a wonderful green thumb
and is known far and wide for His successes in gardening and elsewhere. He is cultivating
the fruits of the spirit inside of us as we are moved along the road to sanctification. He will
not be  bothered by the weeds planted by satan, our own less-than-steadfast efforts or
any other roadblock, for He is the Spirit of God. Enough said.

The wonderful things about these fruits being grown is that they are, essentially, the
very characteristics of blessed Jesus. They are essentially the very attributes one sees in
the life and ministry of God on earth. They flow out of His words, His deeds, his very
essence, and they are available to us as we are being sanctified.

Not seeing much growth or noticing new branches? Well the gardening work can be slow and tedious, but if you just concentrate you should be able to notice those little shoots
of new growth. Do not worry because this gardener is patient and steady as He does His
glorious work.

All the more amazing is the fact that Jesus, the walking representation of the Father,
was providing for us the only true look at His Father.

Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!  John 14: 9

So we are also being transformed into the very likeness of the living God. Wow.
I just want to work hard at knowing and glorifying God and enjoy the wonderful,
growing fruits that are being cultivated within me. How amazing is our God!