We really enjoyed church yesterday. Again, another miracle of miracles for this new family of four to make it to a 9:30 service!
But Anne was so excited to play with church kids and we were excited to be back with our community after having Joseph. All morning long, even people we didn’t know were coming up to us and saying, “Is THIS the parkade baby?” 
Our pastor has been doing an excellent series on the fruit of the life in the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that 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. ~ Galatians 5:22-23
The great thing is how much he’s emphasized that it’s not us “trying harder” to be those things – it is truly the work of the Holy Spirit in us. I’ve already established that I am unable to practice these behaviours on my own…it is definitely a work of God! This is the part of faith that I find easy to embrace because I’ve discovered one thing as a parent very quickly: you come to the end of yourself pretty darn quick. And so it’s natural for me to turn to Jesus, to rely on the Spirit for wisdom and discernment, to open my heart up to however God sees fit to develop these things in me.
Sometimes I have felt that God takes a season in my life to develop these characteristics. For instance, I have, for the past three years, learned a lot about patience in particular. Other seasons it was all about forgiveness – learning to forgive, learning to let things go, learning to release offenses. And self-control is just an ongoing battle! ROFL
I wish that people could use these words to describe Jesus-followers. Unfortunately, we rarely deserve them. Myself included.
It is always a journey, isn’t it? A constant development and shifting towards what God actually intends, his dream for humanity, to not need to “force our way in life” but instead to live in a basic holiness that permeates the things and people around us.
