When I think about the fruit of the spirit, I think similarly about summertime fruit in Michigan. Sweet summer fruit that literally bursts in your mouth, dribbles down your chin, and brings a smile to your lips. This fruit is nostalgia on a vine.
Freshly picked strawberries enveloping your entire mouth with delicious flavors, bringing back memories of childhood summertimes where hearts were full of splendor. Raspberries eaten straight from the pail because you can’t wait to taste that sour burst. And cherries…they have a whole festival for cherries in Traverse City. My husband and I ate brats seasoned with cherries and topped with a cherry sauce. Ok, that might sound disgusting, but it was delicious!
Fields and fields of sweet fruit, waiting to be plucked from the vine and eaten in large quantities. Seeds sown in the rainy spring that are enjoyed in the summertime.
When we talk about this fruit, you might think to yourself, “Man, I haven’t tasted fruit like that in I don’t remember how long…too long?” OR you might be thinking “I have so much of that fruit, we’ve had to freeze a lot of it and make preserves with some of it.” Maybe you’ve already jumped to the conclusion that I am now not necessarily talking about the physical kind of fruit, but the spiritual kind.
There is a reason that this fruit is called the fruit of the Spirit. When we pray, the things we ask for most are the fruit of the Spirit. The sweet spot of being a follower of Jesus. The most pure form of who God is and what he wants to plant in us.
“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”
Galatians 5:22-23
We pray for peace when feeling anxious, joy in the depth of depression, patience when we feel overwhelmed, kindness when all we want to do is lash out. We want faithfulness to our families, gentleness and self-control for our kids and husbands, and ultimately to give and receive unconditional love. And God, our great Sower, plants these seeds, cultivates our hearts, harvests the crops, and reaps a wonderful abundance of fruit.
And sometimes in order to receive this fruit, we have to lay down our own selfish desires and follow the Spirit’s lead in every part of our lives (Galatians 5:25).
The summer of 2018 my husband and I planned a trip to Michigan. This hadn’t been our original plan. Our original plan (our only plan) was to get pregnant. That was our plan, that was the goal—and we wanted it so badly.
Until that summer, we had put everything on hold in order to pursue “trying” for a family. It seemed that nothing could be planned because we “might” be pregnant.
“Hmmm, let’s hold off on that, I might be pregnant that month.”
“Well, maybe. I mean, we might be pregnant.”
“Let’s come back to that after we know for sure if we’re pregnant or not.”
My husband and I had conversation after conversation tailored around the act of getting pregnant. What our lives would look like and what we would need to do.
And then our conversations came to a halt as we endured our first miscarriage.
The pain was a combination of numbness and shock.
I felt the immediate need to try again, rushing forward in anguish, distracted by my own intentions and plans. I didn’t want to make any plans for the summer because…again, we might be pregnant. This miscarriage was just a setback.
God, yes, thank you. You are good. Moving on.
We were completely blindsided by our second miscarriage. And my fragile heart broke into pieces. I felt my resolve completely shatter. Not fully healed from our first miscarriage, I dangerously clung to the hope that another baby would mend the damage. I hadn’t wanted to inspect my heart too intently because I felt certain that another positive pregnancy test was on the way.
Well, yes, a positive pregnancy test. Just not a positive outcome.
So, completely broken and devastated, my husband and I surrendered our own plans and half-heartedly planned a trip to Michigan. We knew we needed healing, time to talk, and ultimately fruit that only the Holy Spirit could produce in us.
Knowing we were in a dry season, we desired a chance to regain our natural rhythm of keeping in step with the Spirit. We needed to tune our hearts to the peaceful tones that only God can provide and a pause from blaming ourselves for the miscarriages.
Not knowing what to expect from our trip, we traveled up to Northern Michigan, looking out into the rows and rows of fruit fields. And as our hearts rested in these plans God had for us, I saw the Sower in a different light.
I had been sowing my own seeds, trying to plant, water, and create something that was not from the Sower himself (Psalm 127:1). To experience the Sower’s love for me, all I needed to do was open my hands and grasp the fruit that was so readily available to me. That summer, we were desperately seeking more than just fruit to fill our stomach; we were seeking the fruit of the Spirit.
The whole trip was exactly what we needed. We experienced a childhood summer of sweet fruit, long bright summer days, and laughter that filled our hearts.
We surrendered our plans, left the ovulation test strips at home, and went hand-in-hand to commune with God.
“Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy.”
Psalm 126:5
Through our tears and heartbreak, on our knees, we were cultivating the fruit of the Spirit. We were throwing down seeds, not sure if they would take, or how we would ever find joy or peace again. But God, in his great mercy, knew these tears were producing a great harvest. On our trip to Michigan, we were reaping with songs of joy.
God had not forgotten us. He met us exactly where we were.
Have you been sowing in tears, sweet friend? Has this season, whether from the pandemic or other circumstances, left you depleted of the fruit of the Spirit?
As we enter this summer, we have a lot of emotions. The past year plus has been a very difficult season of hardships and tears, anxious thoughts and feelings as well as wanting to know that God is still good amidst all the disquietude. As we continue asking God all of our questions, he is faithfully watering these prayers so that we are able to reap the fruit of the Spirit.
As I think about God’s fruit, I think about that summer in Michigan. God, the great Sower himself, wants to cultivate rich fruit in us. Fruit so sweet and satisfying that we are singing songs of joy as we eat from the vine.
I think about the song by Natalie Grant that says, “Help me want the Healer/more than the healing/help me want the Savior/more than the saving/ help me want the Giver/more than the giving.” That summer in Michigan, instead of seeking the desires of our own hearts, we were seeking God himself.
When we meet directly with the Sower, the seeds of the Spirit get sown so deeply that sufficient fruit is cultivated.
Will you join me over the next several weeks to experience God’s fruit, seeking the Holy Spirit in all aspects of our motherhood journey, and finding ourselves in the sunlit field with the Sower himself?
As we enter this summer season, let’s think about and discuss these questions for our own lives:
1) What does God intend from this fruit?
2) What or who is stealing our fruit?
3) How do we cultivate rich fruit in the dry season of motherhood and life?
I hope you will join us in asking God to produce good, rich fruit in us! It’s going to be one sweet summer, friend! 🙂
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