Soul Vitamins

~~~Saint Teresa of Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church~~~

~~~ Galatians 5:18-25 ~~~ Psalm 1 ~~~ Luke 11:42-46 ~~~

...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, generosity,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

It would be amazing if the Spirit had a living tree
 where we could harvest its fruit.
I can imagine walking out into the orchard and
picking the plump ripe fruit of love or joy or peace.
How wonderful would it be just to consume the fruit of patience
 and after several servings to become more patient.

What if the fruit of kindness was so juicy that you had to hold a napkin
right up to your lips with each bite.
Perhaps the fruit of generosity was difficult to peel...
requiring a particular shaped knife.
Imagine the fruit of faithfulness is bitter and sweet
at the same time depending on when it is picked from the tree.
Could the fruit of gentleness hang like a cluster of grapes
fragile needing to be pick with great care?
What if the fruit of self-control was covered with spikes like a porcupine
and could only be handled with protective gloves?

I am indeed creating my own fantasy 'Spirit' orchard,
but it might provide a concrete image.

I would choose to live as close to this 'Spirit' orchard as possible.
I would carefully maintain each of these fruit trees.
The surrounding air would be so fragrant as to attract people from afar.
The colors of the blossoms would literally be a living visual painting.
Those who come to harvest would find the trees heavily laden with fruit...
ready to be picked...never having a shortage.

There would be great joy among those in the orchard.
The whole orchard would prosper year round.
The yield would not be daunted by normal supply and demand.

If you are guided by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

If you consume the fruit from the 'Spirit' orchard
 you will be living the kingdom of God.

These nine types of fruit are different yet each,
by design, is intended to make us spiritually healthy.

They are the vitamins for our soul.

While the above scenario was fictitious
 the fruit of the Spirit is very real.

The fruit of the Spirit was the balanced diet of the Saints.
By consuming this particular fruit we will be much
closer to our goal of holiness.

For the next nine days I will randomly pick one fruit.
I challenge you...
 Commit to making a conscious effort to incorporate that fruit 

in as many ways as you can for that day.
Each day I will place the fruit for the day
 in the comment section of this post.

Let's begin with kindness...grab your napkin.
Kindness is a virtue exhibited in how you treat others.

What do you think?
Is kindness learned or the result of
an innate disposition?
Make the world a better place;
practice kindness.
No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. Aesop.
The fruit of kindness is sure to bring great
 blessings into your heart.
Saint Teresa, teach us to be more kind.
~~~Peace~~~