Atmosphere of growth

We planted the aubergine seeds at the same time as the courgette seeds. We’ve just transplanted and potted on the courgettes, which are growing before our eyes. The aubergines have sprouted. That’s about all there is to say about them.

We’ve never grown either before so aren’t sure when they might flower and fruit. (veg?) We have high hopes but the weather has to co-operate, too.

God’s Spirit is growing his fruit in my life. Some of it germinated quickly. I can occasionally be surprised to notice that I was more patient than I used to be, perhaps, or kinder. Other characteristics of God’s nature, which I long to have growing in my life, haven’t quite popped through yet, or if they have, they are certainly needing a lot of sunshine and nurture to do much growing. I could do with a bit quicker growth of the self-control fruit, I notice sometimes.

We are all different, and the soil of our lives feeds God’s fruits, which grow at different rates in each of us. May these trying times create a hothouse atmosphere in which we all be blessed with a spurt of faithfulness, with a boost of joy which others ‘catch’, with a generous dollop of peace and love, and with significant growth in all the other fruits of the Spirit. Happy Pentecost!

Rats!!

Rats!

One of my neighbours is fighting to reclaim her garden from an invasion of rats. So far they have got rid of about seven of the rodents, but one very smart, very fat rat is too clever to take the bait, no matter the type of trap. 

My neighbour planted crocus bulbs in a patch, years ago, and delights every year to see the carpet thicker and more vibrant than the previous year as the bulbs open in burst of golden and purple colours. It’s taken years of careful husbandry to achieve this beautiful spread. It took the rat just one season to decimate it, eating his way through one bulb after the other.

It isn’t an overnight task to bring the fruits of the Spirit to maturity. It’s a lifetime’s effort, and it requires us to be alert to the ways in which little rodents can get in and nibble away at what is growing in our spirit, our personality. It only takes one rapacious rat, ignored or unnoticed, to undo the years of careful attention.

Glut or Scarcity

Suddenly the ‘crops’ in the veggie patch are ready to eat, and like a two-year-old seeking attention, they want attention NOW or they will bolt. 

The lettuce and spinach will bolt, that is. The peas will swell until there is no room in the pod and then they will wither. The fruit will be pecked by birds or shrivel. The green beans will grow longer and longer until they are as tough as the sole of a shoe.

Moving from the veggie patch to the bus stop, it’s like the saying that you wait an hour for a bus and finally three come along at the same time. 

Why don’t they space themselves out? (as they’re supposed to do) Why don’t the veggies ripen at varying times? 

Makes me wonder about other aspects of living. Are we allowed only a few precious moments to flower and bloom, and then wither and droop and become useless to others?

I don’t think so. I’m thinking about the fruits of the Spirit. They grow in each of our lives, some slowly and imperceptibly (like patience!) and others in spurts and very noticeably. I believe that as we allow these fruits to ripen and then nourish those around us, new fruits ‘set’ and perhaps have a sweeter or more mellow taste. 

I believe that the climate in the Promised Land allows for three crops / harvests a year. Continuous growing at varying speeds of development. Unlike Scotland’s short sharp growing season, our lives are like the seasons in the Promised Land. If we give ourselves to God, we will bear successive crops of fruit to nourish those souls whose spirits hunger and thirst for they know not what.

To bear such crops, though, we must remain rooted in Jesus. Refreshed in him. Fed and watered by him. Trusting wholeheartedly in him.

Jesus is the real source of nourishment and fruitfulness. Abide in me, he said. Not a suggestion. A command.

A Fading Rose bursting with Sweet Perfume

    

In the tall glass vase in front of me stands a statuesque rose, a Buxom Beauty. A vibrant pink in its heyday, the colour is now fading into a more antique version of pink, and the outlying petals are beginning to brown and dry out.

Still, the magnificent rose has a beauty about it, different from last week, but still arresting in its appearance and fragrance.

In fact, the fragrance seems to have intensified as the visual appearance of the rose has begun to fade.

How true to life this metaphor in front of me is! We are friends with many octogenarians and even nonagenarians, all of whom have the fragrance of a gentle and quiet spirit, and the wisdom of years.

Life is fleeting. Life is good. Celebrate life today, whether you are a newly flowering or a fading rose. 

Let the fragrance of Jesus fill the atmosphere where you live and move and have your being. Let the fruits of the Spirit ripen and sweeten in the experience of those who know and love you.

Live life to the full. That’s what Jesus came to give us. Embrace the moment.