THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT

Pick Free Fruit – by Hope Fulliam

Shrieking monkeys, thrashing trees, and crackling branches have served as my alarm clock for several months. Monkeys don’t care that my creaking eyes and listless brain are not ready to face the day. For them, sleeping in on weekends is an alien concept.

What monkeys care about is fruit – the soursop tree in my backyard that bears their breakfast. When they filch a succulent soursop, they aren’t concerned that I might have been eyeing the fruit for days, gauging the prefect time for picking so I could make myself a cool, creamy juice. The furry foes don’t hear the gnashing of my teeth as they gambol thunderously across the roof, en route from the soursop tree to the laden mango tree in the lot opposite my house.

My outrage at the discarded fruit skin, seeds, and fragrant excrement on my verandah is pointless because monkeys don’t stick around to address complaints. Monkeys are what they are: annoying, potentially destructive, relentless pests, and permanent residents. 

In this world, monkey business, mischievous, deceitful behaviour, and troubles will sniff out our fruit. But there is other fruit that is ours for the taking: “…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22 NIV).

Spiritual fruit cannot be stolen when we are confronted by monkeys or troubles. We have to choose to give it away. “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free” (Galatians 5:13 NIV). We choose how we react to the monkeys and troubles of this world. Let us not rail against the inevitable, and instead, pick and eat of the freely available spiritual fruit our Lord has graciously provided.