Monday 27th April

MONDAY 27TH APRIL 2020

Good morning friends, I pray that your weekend has been a blessing to you.

I spent most of the time out of doors, either walking or pottering about in the garden.

I am really enjoying watching the blossom appearing on our fruit trees around the walls.

We have apple, pear, plum and cherry trees; and each in due course will provide fruit for us to enjoy.

As you know we are reflecting on the Fruit of the Spirit for these next days. And, the fourth

“Fruit of the Spirit is Patience.”

I wonder how patient you are able to be in these days of lockdown?

I know for some patience is wearing thin, and we can see from news reports that in some cases tempers are fraying.

According to Google patience is defined as; “the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble or suffering without getting angry or upset”

I have to confess that over the years I have struggled with being patient, not wanting to wait, especially when trying to figure out where God is leading me.

Why can’t he just show me the whole picture so I can see clearly the end result?

However, I have discovered in my relationship with the Lord, is that God’s timing is certainly not the same as mine. And, I have found over the years that God’s timing is always perfect.

As I looked at the blossom on the fruit trees this weekend I was reminded that there is a time of waiting before the fruit appears. It does not grow immediately after the blossom appears. It will take time and we have to be patient until it is ready.

So it is with us, for we are still a work in progress.

God is infinitely patient and loving towards us and part of being a Christian is letting the Holy Spirit work in us to develop the Fruit of the Spirit.

It is a gradual process and will happen over time.

The whole world is in a period of waiting. I don’t know when the time of waiting will be over, and how life will be changed.

I do believe though, that God has a perfect plan for our lives, and for our world. Our task is to wait, and watch and pray, to trust and be patient with ourselves and with one another.