Daily Devotion

“But the Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Against such things there is no law….Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”  Galatians 5:22

Has it been a while since you reviewed this list of Fruit of the Spirit?  It is still a GOOD list, and a great “playbook” for how to live a life reflective of God’s hope for us, especially in these days that don’t seem to have a playbook. 

If you are new to Good Shepherd, let me fill you in a bit.  At the beginning of 2020 we, as a church family, took up the commitment that this year we were going to “Focus on Faithfulness” (for the year 2020-focus-get it?).  As a way to Focus on Faithfulness we spent January and February grounding ourselves in daily habits of prayer, reading Scripture, or engaging other spiritual practices.  We called it “Vine Time” based on Jesus words in John’s Gospel, “I am the vine you are the branches…abide in me….bear fruit.”  Vine Time is how we abide in Jesus, which we trust will allow the Spirit to grow fruit in our lives. (How is your Vine Time going, by the way?)

Then, in Lent we took on the task of studying the various Fruit of the Spirit. As we became students of these 9 attributes we realized that they are rooted in God and who God is.  The bottom line is that as these fruit blossom, grow and thrive in our lives, we are engaging in the life God desires for us.  During Lent we also began to train our eyes to SEE where God was producing Fruit in our lives and the world around us. Hopefully you are still on the lookout!

Back in January when we were making plans for all of this, we intentionally saved two of the Fruit of the Spirit-Joy and Generosity- to talk about in May, because that is when we typically talk about God’s mission for Good Shepherd and our stewardship and support of that mission.

Now, I get that this is a weird time to talk about Joyful Generosity with so many people losing their jobs and the economy tanking like it is. But maybe this is the perfect time to link the two fruit of Joy and Generosity.  Maybe we all need to experience some joy in these stressful days, and perhaps being generous is a way to find it.  There are many ways to be generous, after all.  Hopefully we can be generous with our financial resources, but we can also be generous with any of the Fruit of the Spirit—Love, Patience, Kindness, Gentleness….you get the picture.

So this week will you join me in being on the hunt for ways to be generous?  Then will you pay attention to how living that Fruit of the Spirit also brings you joy?  I’d love to hear your stories!  You can leave a comment at the bottom of this page, or send me an email. 

Also, be on the lookout for a letter from me (in your mailbox) later this week with more details about our upcoming emphasis on Joyful Generosity.   Pastor Heidi