Well-Tended Garden

A gardener, I am not! The best I can manage is some potted plants; and without Mister Bill's "garden" maintenance, I don't even manage that very well! Believers are wise to consider how well we tend our spiritual gardens. The spiritual we are called to yield is often that of a garden neglected and ignored! "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." (Galatians 5:22-23, NASB). Doesn't that stand of fruit sound like a garden that has had serious attention? Although we do depend on God's soil and sunshine, those potted blooms rely heavily on the tender and faithful care of the gardener. Spiritual fruit, however, will always be The miraculous work of The Holy Spirit: "If we live by The Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit." (V.25, NASB). To "live by" The Holy Spirit demands a setting aside of ourselves, making room for and giving control to Him. When we do this, we flourish spiritually and display to the world ... a well-tended garden.