Live Out the Fruit of the Spirit

Excerpt taken from The Sunshine Mind: 100 Days to Finding the Hope and Joy You Want by Tanya Rad & Raquelle Stevens

Day 100
Live Out the Fruit of the Spirit

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
— Galatians 5:22-23 NIV 1984

Raquelle

My mom tells the story of a woman in her neighborhood who was always angry. Every time my mom would see her walking her dog, no matter what this woman’s mood was, my mom would always smile and say hello. After weeks of my mom doing this, the woman softened and her mood shifted. She stopped my mom one day and said, “You know, no one notices each other anymore. People are always in a hurry—cars speeding by—and it is a shame. But I wanted to say thank you for always smiling and saying hello to me.” They ended up having the most beautiful and meaningful conversation. Perhaps this woman had been deeply hurt throughout her life, and through my mom showing her a simple act of kindness with a smile and a wave, she was able to make a connection with another person and feel the love of God.

The fruits of the Spirit are what we experience when we spend time in God’s presence and are filled with God’s Spirit. They are the goal of how we want to live and show we’re really following him. Of course, our natural human tendencies can be opposite of the fruits, but the more we practice the fruits of the Spirit, the more they will become habit and create the most meaningful and loving connections with others.

The Sunshine Mind Why To … Live Out the Fruit of the Spirit

Love

When you experience God’s love, you can’t help but love other people. It’s part of who you are because God is love, and his love in you overflows to others.

Joy

Often people think the spiritual life is heavy or intenses, but we’ve found that the more we are filled up with God, the more we experience joy—and not only a little bit of joy but an abundance of it! We can be going through the toughest of circumstances and still feel joy and even find humor in our daily lives.

Peace

It is possible to have peace no matter your circumstances. We have been in some of the wildest situations where the natural reaction would have been to feel afraid, but because we know we always carry the peace of God with us, the feeling of peace instantly replaces feelings of fear or worry.

Patience

We think patience is a tough one because it goes against our natural human tendency. We want things now, but if you stop and think about it, many of the best things in life take time. Building a good relationship takes time. It can be like growing a plant. It’s not likfe you plant the seed, then water it and—boom!—a few seconds later you have a beautiful flower. It’s a slow process that requires patience—it may take days, weeks, or even months—but the waiting is worth it to get to that lovely blossom.

Kindness

Kindness is truly one of the best things in the world, and we can all practice it—with friends, with strangers, with anyone at all. It can be as simple as giving someone a smile, or it can be going out of your way to help someone in need. Kindess can come in many forms, but even the smallest act of kindness can be felt deeply.

Goodness

Goodness encompasses many things. When you know God, you naturally want to be good—being good to yourself and putting good out into the world. We can live out goodness through our words and our actions, including the way we speak to ourselves and to others.

Faithfulness

Being faithful is important because even when you don’t see what’s coming next, you can still practice faithfulness to God, knowing that all things are working together for good in God’s plan. We know that our end goal is eternity, so no matter what we face in this lifetime, when we are faithful to God, we are good no matter what.

Gentleness

We have always loved the concept of gentleness because we believe that when people think of God, they think of strength in the form of a powerfullion. That absolutely is God, but we’ve always loved the idea of God being the lion and the lamb. We are meant to be fierce and bold, but we’re also meant to be gentle with people, and gentleness is a form of strength. Jesus lived his entire life with gentleness, meeting people where they were. There is boldness in gentleness.

Self-Control

We all benefit from having self-control, don’t we? Any time we have not had self-control—for example, eating too much and then feeling sick or reacting badly to a friend who has upset us—we regret it almost immediately. Our actions—eating that extra piece of cake or yelling at our friend—might feel good in the moment. But almost immediately after, we ask ourselves, “Why did I do that?” Self-control is an amazing fruit of the Spirit to have because giving in to our impulses never leads to long-term peace. God wants us to live our lives being able to control ourselves.

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