“…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control;” (Galatians 5)
A few weeks before Christmas, 2024, I was gifted with this beautiful “Red Amaryllis”. I was surprised that it listed, no water required. That was exciting for me. I was extremely curious will it really bloom? I have been patiently watching day by day for a bud. I have a bud just as I’m preparing for Valentine’s Day!
We, @theLily, have been sharing from Galatians 5 focusing on folllowing the guidance of the Holy Spirit and enjoying the benefits of sharing with one another.
Today, let’s think on patience? What type of things or situations have taught you patience? Some days I wondered if my amaryllis was really going to bloom since it was only sitting in my window sill growing slowly and requiring only that I “love” it enough to give it a prime sunny spot in my home.
Do I feel “joy” watching it day by day grow but slowly? Am I having “peace” in knowing I was being “loved” by the grower and then the giver. Then our scripture list, “patience”?
I thought on my joy from spotting this red bud (in photo) this morning and jumped into motion how to share with others with my little setting. I didn’t think of “kindness” at the time I created my setting for dinner! And, can hardly wait to share my battery candle lights (for safety) with my soon to be five year old granddaughter and others. Also, you by thinking of each of you that study with me and offering a prayer of gratitude!
Our next word, kindness? Am I showing kindness by sharing a bud-photo-prayer that I have patiently waited for?💛
thedailylily.com 
Thank you, Sara, for taking and sharing your photo. It all ties in so beautifully and expresses the caption, “Let Love Grow”. The hearts everywhere show a multiplication of love!
“Today, let’s think on patience? What type of things or situations have taught you patience?” Well, just the instruction to ‘think on patience’ helps patience grow for me because it helps me pause and stop other things to reflect and write.
Seed starting time is beginning for me at work with the students I teach about plants. We patiently learn how to prepare the soil and sow the seeds. Then each day we wait for something to happen and look for the first seed to germinate. Sometimes it takes many days and we wonder and get concerned if those seeds are even alive. Were we kind to them and did we sow them right? Tend to them with the right amount of water and put them in the best location? It is tempting to want to dig them up and disturb them to see if anything is happening. But we have to refrain from that. When they start popping their heads up, we are relieved and joyful. Then more patience is required to wait for flowers and fruits to form.
“Am I showing kindness by sharing a bud-photo-prayer that I have patiently waited for?” Sara, I think you are! Sharing the bud gives hope and encouragement; the photo with its colors and patterns brings joy; and what a blessing and peace it brings to know that you think of us and ‘offer a prayer of gratitude’. Thank you!
I love the picture of your setting Sara! I know your little granddaughter will be overjoyed to see the battery lights, the beautiful heart tablecloth, and the budding amaryllis!
“Today, let’s think on patience? What type of things or situations have taught you patience?”
I began to think about patience and how things are today and how they were when my grandmother was here. For example, I’m pretty sure she didn’t always have the convenience of a stove that we do, and probably had to collect firewood and light the fire, to get the stove hot enough to cook? Today, we may even “pat our foot” in front of the microwave! We can go to our fridge and get ice to put in our glass of tea and I think my grandmother had to occasionally get a big block of ice and no freezer to keep it in? Oh…. The patience my grandmother sure seemed to have! Sara, you are truly showing kindness by sharing your photo and showing love by sharing with us and your precious granddaughter. These things she may keep in her little heart and mind for life!🙏🩷🙏🩷
Thanks Tammy for sharing about your Grandmother. And, Grand she was. I have beautiful fond memories or her aka as Sister Alice.
in writing this blog she was on my mind at times. I had the grand opportunity of being part of her “church family” growing up. You shared a portion of her life that multiplied many times over in other parts of her life for example of “seed and harvest time” of getting food to the family table.
Tammy, when one was given the honor of sitting at her dinning table on a day each week she paused to give thanks and praise to God for His goodness to her, family, neighbors and church family they also gave thanks to God for her kindness. We glorified her Father which is in heaven. “My Father is glorified when you produce much fruit and in this way prove that you are my disciples.” John 15:8 CEB
https://bible.com/bible/37/jhn.15.8.CEB
I remember her telling me many years later when I visited her after not seeing her for years and she was dealing with health and age related issue with her beloved husband, she said, “I prayed for patience.” And, Tammy, her story will never end!
Today, we are living in very difficult times where division abounds with the very opposite of the fruit of the Spirit as we have been sharing here. The fruit of doing things without allowing God to divinely lead us by the Spirit are…
“When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.”
Galatians 5:19-21 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/gal.5.19-21.NLT
How can we come to the table of fellowship of sharing our fruit, light and others leave glorifying , “Our Father which art in heaven.”
The light of Tammy’s grandmother aka Sister Alice brings her light and SALT (she was also a great cook) to our tables. That is when Tammy and others share their stories of “how shall we then live” when things are out of control! We have listed here the two different ways to live. When we chose Galatians 5:22,33 vs 5:19,31 it becomes Clear how we can be a part of change in 2025.
Thanks Tammy for these words, “Sara, you are truly showing kindness by sharing your photo and showing love by sharing with us and your precious granddaughter. These things she may keep in her little heart and mind for life!”
Oh how I pray and hope “these things” grow love in her heart and mind for life. 🙏🏼❤️
I likewise add your two grands to our prayers and any grands that may yet be unborn for God’s love to take root and grow from birth throughout life for each child as they hear the voice of our Father. 🙏🏼❤️
Thanks Debi for sharing the things you are teaching high school student as they learn how to garden. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
As we focus on, “Let Love grow” from Gal 5 and watch, give and receive the fruit of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” we will sing with great exuberance. “Let all God’s people praise the Lord.”
“If we come to God by being perfect, no one is going to come to God. Our failures open our hearts of stone and move our rigid mind space toward understanding and patience.”
—Richard Rohr
I read this quote in a devotional today!
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and story, Tammy! And I agree with Sara’s prayer, “I likewise add your two grands to our prayers and any grands that may yet be unborn for God’s love to take root and grow from birth throughout life for each child as they hear the voice of our Father.”
I had the privilege many years ago of visiting your grandmother, along with Sara and others. She showed us much love and patience that day as she patiently taught us some hymns to sing that I had never heard or sung. The one I remember most which became one of my favorites was “Drifting Too Far From the Shore.”