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But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Galatians 5:22-23

So is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable? And what about cucumbers? Both of these are technically fruit but as they are better known as vegetables they are treated as vegetables. A bit like tomatoes and cucumbers, Christians can be one thing but treated as another. And to be fair, it is often self- inflicted!

Over the summer the crops have grown and matured in hot summer sun and rain showers, getting ready for harvest. Over our lifetimes we produce fruit in our lives which can be lovely and juicy and tasty or it can be poor, wrinkled and frankly rotten.

Often we think faith, and Christians in particular, are dour, grumpy and boring. But actually in relationship with God, we should be full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Our company should be a blessing not a curse, and through our faith and with God’s good grace, we will produce fruit full of seeds that means others will benefit from our love, joy, peace, patience etc etc.

We don’t always get it right – sometimes the conditions cause our fruit to sour, sometimes lack of tender loving care means that our fruit struggles to ripen, sometimes poison rather than fertiliser used means we slowly die rather than bloom. If you want his help with your fruit, just ask him.

He is more than ready to heal, prune and refresh, and through the Spirit you will bloom. God bless. By the Reverend Sarah Ross of Blantyre Old Parish Church.