Fruit Check

Years ago some pastor/leader/wise person said something when extolling on the "Fruits of the Spirit" that has never left my heart. They talked about doing a regular "fruit check". I don't know if that was when that verse became a cornerstone of my life, or if maybe it was the year we taught on it in Mexico and I helped with creating the "curriculum", or some other time. I do know that from early on in my Christian walk I have latched on to "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control" now in three languages; English, Spanish, and sign. See, the idea of a "fruit check" is just as it sounds, take a look at the fruit in your life to see how ripe/not ripe it is. See if it is rotting, bug filled, oozing, or if it is a bit green, hard, and scentless. What sort of fruit is in your heart at any given time. I've come to check it randomly, to check it when I am feeling a struggle. I tell you too, if anything is out of sorts with my life I can ALWAYS link it back to a fruit being not right. The first summer we had our foster daughter I wanted some sort of summer Bible study type thing to do with her. I created a plan to teach her of one fruit a week. I took some fake fruit from a hobby store and wrote one of the fruits of the Spirit on each and put it in a bowl in our foyer. That fruit bowl remains there, and I think always will, as a tangible reminder. My two year old will pull the banana out and I will say "What do you think of that peace from God? or he'll pretend to bite the apple, and I will tell him "Don't take a bite out of Faith!" Maybe it seems silly, but he is two after all! I look forward now to the comments I'll likely receive on my fruit checks here! It is a constructive way to keep your heart as God would have it kept though.