Fruit Stand

Imagine driving down a country road: baby lambs, beautiful fields, gentle streams, hot sun-–then oh blissful day! A fruit stand! Overflowing with sunflowers, corn, cherries, nectarines, peaches and plums! The colors of the fruit splash out like an advertisement for the juicy goodness that awaits inside this colorful natural wrapper, and you simply must pull over. You have been drawn in to the yumminess that awaits. The fruit is beautiful and filled with goodness-you can tell by the wrapping. Somehow the bargain bin--fifty percent off of the bedraggled and worn out fruit--just doesn’t entice.

The fruit of the spirit in our lives can be a little like this. Sometimes hidden by the scars and bruises of life, sometimes shielded by the bedraggled covering of the day.  But oh glorious day when our fruit is shiny and bright! Kindness not masked by a weary heart, goodness not shielded from view by an unkempt spirit. Patience and joy and peace shining bright to draw people in.

When the Christ-like attributes of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are bright and shiny in our lives they draw those who don’t know Christ to us. What is this joy that is in this heart? What is the kindness that I see pouring out of this individual? How can I pluck that off of a tree and pour it into my life? As a fruit stand displays its products, so should our lives display our Savior’s great love for mankind. His attributes on display through us is one way that Jesus Christ is revealed to a world that doesn’t know him. The goodness in your life is inspiring to others. The joy in my life is explained only by the fact that it comes directly from Him.

But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22, 23

Re-Gifting

My sister’s birthday is in January. This might possibly be the worst time of year to have a birthday. People are already worn out by too much yummy food, too much shopping, too much stuff, and too much celebrating. They are too worn out to even consider celebrating you. It’s a challenge to even find a present for someone in January. Presumably they have already received everything they want or need. And, unless like this amazing sister you shopped ahead, there is nothing to purchase to celebrate your loved one that is not picked over and rejected from Christmas. Even worse, those with January birthdays are often the victims of re-gifting. Rather than receiving a gift that is thoughtfully chosen, they receive the left-over or rejected gifts that have already been opened and found lacking by someone else.

While many people ridicule the re-gift, there is one gift received at Christmas that absolutely must be re-gifted: the gift of Jesus Christ. While Christmas is over: boxed up and stored in the rafters for next year, the gift we have received through Jesus Christ lives in our hearts and lives all year. This gift we have the privilege of re-gifting to others. It is our joy to help give this gift away. And the gift isn’t just the story of the baby in the manger, it is infinitely more. Better than clothes, toys or electronics, we receive grace, mercy and forgiveness. Better than the fleeting happiness that comes in a box we receive the imperishable gift of salvation-if we will accept it. Don’t leave the best gift of your lifetime boxed up and stored in the rafters; this year, let’s all be re-gifters.

 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 2 Corinthians 5:18