Definitely Desirable Fruit

People and animals enjoy the fruit trees in our yard. In the springtime, I love to photograph the beautiful blooms on the pear trees. Later on, even before any pears ripen, the deer who forage for food in our yard eat the green ones attached to low-growing limbs. However, the deer have to wait for the persimmons to ripen and fall to the ground from limbs high overhead. Therefore, they visit the tree many times a day, hoping to find the delicious fruit.

As I think about physical fruit, I am reminded that the Bible talks about a different kind of "fruit" that is produced by the Holy Spirit who indwells each believer. Most translations use wording similar to this when listing that fruit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

However, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language describes the fruit this way:

But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way fruit appears in an orchard--things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.

Although descriptions of the fruit vary, it's definitely desirable since such fruit honors God and blesses those who partake of it. Oh, may the Holy Spirit produce a bumper crop of fruit in your life and mine!