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Tag Archives: Fruit of the Spirit

The Gift That Keeps Giving . .

10 Monday Apr 2017

Posted by Cheryl Ries in Attitude, Choices, God, Life, Maturity, Strength

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Fruit of the Spirit, Maturity, Patience, Wisdom

Patience is the lesson learned through many of life’s complications, trivial and more serious! It’s the realization that you’ll have to tolerate what at the time and at the moment seems intolerable, even if only for a short time! Patience is a fruit of our Spirit, found within us naturally, but surely requiring lessons and purposeful attention to developing! Patience convinces us to remain calm, to stay peaceful within, to consider situations purposefully, and to not react without first thinking things through. Patience accepts flaws and tolerates the imperfections of human nature and life itself!  

I try not to measure my patience or lack there of! As soon as I crow about my patience through something, it will invariably bring on a challenge or test which causes me to eat my words! I think God teaches us in the middle of our trials so that we know it’s not of our doing, but His! And if I am ever actually sufficient in patience, I will surely know that it is God’s handiwork in my life. It surely wouldn’t be all my doing! I still struggle, daily!

 

This past week, while finishing up the pruning and trimming of some trees in my yard, trying to clean up after Winter in preparation for Summer ahead, I was attacked by tiny black ants biting my feet! I was actually doing the last few things on my list early one morning when it occurred. The attack was annoying at the moment, but I brushed the pesky ants off and continued my work until I could get out of their reach. It wasn’t until later on, and especially in days to come, that I paid attention to the effects of their foray with my feet! The bites I received became highly sensitive to itching whenever they were touched or even brushed against. And if I actually forgot about the bites while half-asleep, scratching my feet mindlessly, I set off a terrible itch almost instantly! It was so annoying to suffer the side effect from that one brief moment in the yard for several days afterward. Even anti-itch creams took their sweet time to work on the seven or so inflamed spots on both my feet!  

Finally, the itching passed, after a few tedious days. But the whole event felt like the gift that keeps on giving for that time! That is the hard thing about being patient, it requires strength and perseverance over a set of circumstances which usually are not all that pleasant or fun, much less something we’ve chosen! Much like the bites on my feet, the event itself was not much fun, and the continued itch was surely unpleasant! Patience was required if I didn’t want to drive myself insane!  

Now, not all tests of our patience are so trivial. Not all tests are so short-term or so inconsequential to our lives overall. We often have to endure lengthy ordeals which eat away at our ability to stay the course! Emotions are usually the reason for waning patience! We just hate to endure what we don’t want to. And any discomfort, any pain, anything through which we process negative emotions, are the attacks we wage on our own fledgling patience muscles! We fight a barrage of emotions and feelings which encourage us to abandon our budding patience in favor of having what we what now, rather than enduring what we find difficult or even impossible! Patience is always a test of our will, our emotions giving way against our determination to persist with maturity against our own emotions! To be able to control one’s own emotions is a sign of maturity, as then one has more dominion over self! The more emotionally immature we are, the more reactionary we tend to be and thus, unable to stand strong against whatever our emotions dictate. Comfort, ease, need, desire, fear, insecurity and many other internal drives play upon our emotions. We hate to be uncomfortable, to feel deprived, to have unmet needs, or to suffer for any length of time! And so, we settle for less, choose an alternative, or give up on what we’re pursuing rather than patiently forge ahead.

Patience it is said is a virtue. It can protect us from emotional contests, willful battles, and serious mistakes which take us off course. Patience leads to more civility amongst people and prospers respect for others. It is only through our patience that we learn to be humble, to tolerate others, and to wait for what is truly meant to be ours. Patience is one of the fruits of the Spirit because it enables us to deal with one another with more loving kindness and better reason, as each of us is unique and independent, it gives us more measured concern. It is required in life to keep us from falling into bad habits, from making hasty erroneous judgments, and from reacting without forethought. And most of all, patience teaches us the art of self-control, self-discipline, and self-acceptance, as our flaws and failings are a natural part of the human experience. And the more patient we are with our own flaws, the more patient we are with those of others!

Now, if I could just be patient about ant bites and other buggy assaults! 

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Easter’s Gift . .

27 Sunday Mar 2016

Posted by Cheryl Ries in Celebration, Choices, Christianity, Faith, Life, Wisdom

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Easter, Fruit of the Spirit, Jesus, Resurrection Day

Such a beautiful morning! This Sunday, many in the world are celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus, as He rose from the dead after suffering a most horrific death through crucifixion upon the cross on Calvary. We know that promises God made to His people for redemption and salvation throughout all time were fulfilled through the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus! And so we shout Hallelujah, we sing songs of praise and worship, we join with family and friends in church services and special activities. For me, it is the best time of year, as I am so overwhelmingly filled with the sense of love, promise, hope and faith in God’s gift of salvation! I could never earn or merit such a gift of love, but it is mine just because I know and accept that Jesus died on that cross for me! Jesus defeated death and so shall we who believe! imagesUOGYBFHO

And so this wonderful morning, I am especially saddened to hear about another terrorist attack in Pakistan today, killing over 100 and injuring over 300, mostly women and children who had gathered at a park. This tragedy speaks to the undeniable evil which is consuming so many hearts and minds in this fallen world. It seems to be mutating and spreading, taking so many who perpetuate it into an eternity where nothing is promised but death and constant torment. After all, eternity and life are promised only through the ultimate gift of love, that which was given freely to the world through the sacrifice Jesus made for all of us. His death was the blood sacrifice required to eradicate the burden of sin which is an inevitable part of our human state of being ever since Adam and Eve fell victim to its lure in the Garden of Eden. For all time, for all of us, the overwhelming burden of our sin has been born by that horrible beating, suffering, and ultimately death in an unimaginably painful manner on the cross. God promised such a gift, as our loving Father, because He hopes we all will be with Him for eternity. He never wants to lose a soul, but it will be by sin’s hold on hearts and minds that many will miss eternity with their Father! I cannot imagine such a hell as that, being parted forever from God!  resurrection

I read today of an Easter Egg hunt in Connecticut which turned into a stampede, by which adults were so driven to have free stuff, that they actually overran children in their pursuit of stuff! Again, I was reminded that Easter does not mean the same thing for everyone as it does for believers. When we lose sight of the real meaning of the day, the real reason for this day – the celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus – we cannot carry into the day anything but human, selfish, ego-driven and sinful natures! This type of behavior is shocking, as is the terrorism laying waste to our world surely, but it isn’t really hard to understand! It’s the result of people having moved further from God and more comfortable with their sinful nature. It’s the natural consequence of sin taking a stronger hold over hearts and minds which are not desirous of being obedient to God or as full of God’s fruit of the spirit. Those nine fruits are so evident in Jesus during his time walking this earth that we should be inspired to fill our spirits with them as much as we’re able! Jesus provided us the ideal example of God in human form! The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, mentioned in Galatians 5, 22 -23. These fruits evoke the very nature of people endeavoring to be more Christ-like and more Godly. It’s obvious to notice the opposite effects at work in our population . . especially in the two shocking behavioral stories which I read about today and shared here with you! It’s a choice we all make, to know the Lord or to live believing that this is all there is! If this were truly all there is, God help us!   Signature02

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Cheryl Ries-Author & Model

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