Lesson from the Top of a Waffle
One of my favorite memories from a trip to Florida I took with my wife was brunch. We attended church with a couple from the area who also have a house in our little town. After the service we headed over to a special café called Mom’s Kitchen. Their specialty is this fruit topped waffle. What makes the waffle amazing is not the waffle or even for a sweet tooth like mine, the whip cream. What makes the waffle amazing is the fruit. The fruit is the best tasting fruit I have ever experienced growing up in the middle of Canada and now living in the middle of the United States. The only other time I had experienced fruit like this was when I was in Ecuador or the Dominican Republic. It seems to me the closer we are to where the fruit is grown. The closer we are to places the fruit is able ripen in its natural environment, the fruit tree. The more amazing it tastes. Today, even as I write this, I find myself desiring to return to those places so I can partake of these flavors again.
The Bible speaks to us about fruit.
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." - Galatians 5:22-23 NIV
This is utterly amazing fruit. Fruit that is sweeter, more powerful flavor than any fruit plucked from a tree. This is the fruit plucked from the life of one who is walking in step with the Spirit. How do we walk with the Spirit and live a life the produces this amazingly sweet and powerful fruit?
""I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." - John 15:5 NIV
The more I am connected to the source, the sweeter and more powerful the fruit of the Spirit will be in our lives. The source is Jesus. We connect to him by faith. We feed our faith when we nourish the soul through meditating on the word of God. We feed our faith when we commune with God in prayer. We feed our faith when we fill our minds with knowledge that honors him like podcasts, music, books we read. We nourish our faith when we surround our lives with those who are seeking God. The more we feed on these things, the more we will abide in Jesus, the more we will walk in step with the Spirit, the sweeter and more powerful become the fruits of the Spirit in our lives!
May your lives abide in Jesus. May your lives nourish its faith on the things that deepen your communion with Jesus. May you walk by the Spirit. May your lives produce the sweetest and most powerful fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
