Fruit of the Spirit (RTLC 2015)

You are not some special little snowflake. You are not a rose in a field of dandelions. You are not the only one like you in the world. I have heard these things from parents and none of them are true. They aren’t true about you, they aren’t true about me, and they aren’t true about anyone. Except Chris Pratt…. He, He is just great! Now if I were to say anything about individuality and “specialness” it would be this. You are an Aspen Tree. Some are tall, some are short, some are ugly, and some have things carved into them. You are an Aspen Tree, you are different from other aspen trees but only if you look REALLY close. Other wise you are just another tree in the forest.  The reason is because YOU are broken, YOU are imperfect, YOU are damaged goods. You are a MEAT SACK with a stone heart that is crumbling and so is EVERYONE ELSE.

There is good news though we have a specific set of tools to help polish our stone heart.  These Tools are Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control. Unfortunately, more bad news, your tools are just terrible. They are weak, rusty, and breaking.  Your love will fail the one whom deserves it because of personal resentment. Your Joy will fail you when faced with true devastation. Your peace will fail when the waves of life’s trepidations hit you. Your patience will crumble under the weight of expectations. Your Kindness will last only as long as your love for the person whom is testing you. Your Goodness will disappear when selfish desire arrives.  Your Faithfulness will only last as long as you need it to, and then it will be as fleeting as a summer breeze. Your Gentleness will only last as long as your self control allows. Long story short, your tools are weak and frail.

Here is the Best news. We have a carpenter who has better tools than we do. 2000 years ago our carpenter waded into the river Jordan.  Had hands placed upon him and was plunged into the waters of the river. When he reappeared above the waters the spirit entered him. (Matthew 3:13-17) That same spirit enters us at our baptism gives us the Fruit of the Spirit. That singular fruit has multiple attributes that give us the ultimate tools we need. We gain the ability to tap directly into the bottomless well that is God’s Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control, and in these gifts we will never be left wanting. Christ describes it best in John 14:27

“Peace I leave with you; MY peace if give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

It is God’s gift to us in the Holy Spirit that we can tap into. A love that will never fail or falter  and forgives no matter how many times forgiveness is asked. A joy that surpasses all understanding. A peace that will calm the waves in the middle of a storm. A patience that has waited Three days before reveling to the world the Greatest News of all time. The kindness to those who did not ask for it nor did they deserve it, but instead a kindness that is freely given.  A goodness that will be poured out from the heart of the one who was sent for the world’s sake. A faithfulness in the one who formed your heart from clay and with a snap of his fingers sent that heart into a flutter. Finally, a Gentleness that will be lead by the self control of the man who gave his life for yours.

Now I might be on the wrong side of the cross here, but I started this with the idea that you are not special. We are not pretty flowers in a field of dandelions. Instead I insist that we are all Aspen trees. Aspen trees are diverse and bend to their environment, so none of them look alike. Yet they all have roots that are interconnected. They all have scars caused by someone else. They all have leaves that give comfort to those below. Your story may be hard and painful, but you aren’t the only one who has gone through it. Your story may be weird and privileged, but you’re not the only person who feels conflicted. Your story is not a magic little snowflake, and that is NOT A BAD THING. To think that you are the only one who can understand what you are going through is a LIE. A Lie to yourself and a lie to the world. Until you realize that we are all in this together you won’t be able to get past your brokenness. To dive into the Fruit of the Spirit we are gifted with. The best part about aspen trees is that their roots grow together. Until one tree is actually two. Two trees wrap themselves together to make four. Until the whole forest are many trees with one set of roots. We are rooted in Christ, and that means we are all not that special, but we all receive the gifts. Sorry if you thought you were a butterfly in a pod of caterpillars.

Galatians 5:22-23

“But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patients, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Against such things there is no law.”