Three women were sitting around a table. They were there for one purpose and that was to learn to journal. Paper and pens at the ready the assignment was  "The Fruits of the Holy Spirit" There were nine to choose from....love, joy, peace, patience,kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Without knowing what each other had chosen to write about we all chose self control. I thought about this for a long time. Why did three mature Christian women all feel that self control was the main area that was lacking in their lives?

My conclusion was that without self control, it is impossble to excercise the  other eight fruits. But the more I thought about it the more I came to realise that it is possible to exhibit all nine fruits if one tries hard enough and long enough and excerts enough self control. It is possible in one's own strength to be loving, kind, gentle, peaceful, full of joy, patience, faithfulness and excellent self control.

But when the temptations come, sickness comes, heartbreak comes, rejection comes, then what??
Where is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control then? What happens to all that self effort?

So I thought some more and this time I came to a different conclusion. I realised that none of these fruits are possible for us to grow in our lives by self effort. We are sinful and even our hearts are deceitful. We often fool even ourselves. I concluded that it is only by allowing the Holy Spirit to live inside of us and staying connected through prayer to Jesus Christ our Saviour and Friend that we can possibly grow these eternal fruits in our lives, so that they are evident in a permanent and consistent way.

Abiding (remaining) in Christ is the answer to growing permanent, healthy, nutritious fruit in our lives. Fruit that nourishes not only our own souls but the souls of those around us. There are no short cuts. No quick fixes. No self help formulas here. Just back to basic application of God's Word and prayer.

So I plan to rest in God and stop striving to be a better person. I plan only to draw closer to the best Friend I could ever hope to have.