orange blossoms

the fruits of the spirit... in VBS when i was 7 or so, we colored bookmarks with the fruits of the spirit, decorated with, you guessed it, fruit... i think this blocked the meaning of the actual passage for me for a long, long time... of the spirit, the Holy Spirit... love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control... these are manifested in lives that are led by the Holy Spirit... i tried to force these things last year, and failed miserably... i often get caught up in the idea that i can do things on my own, that my faith is strong enough that i can do this and that, i can live by my own accord... i didn't have any of these, and i was drained, forcing fake emotions over a sense of emptiness and numbness... when we allow the Spirit to work within us, these things will come naturally... and great things will happen... these things are FRUITS and we must nourish them, encourage them, but they will grow on God's accord, not ours... like any tree, we can water it, protect it, and provide it access to the sun, but the seed opens, and leaves sprout, and flowers bloom, and fruit is produced all within the hand of the Creator...