Fruits of the Spirit

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and Self-control; against such things there is no law." Galatians 5:22-23 I went through most of my adolescence believing that the Fruits of the Spirit were things given to us. Has anybody ever prayed for patience? Then, after you pray for patience, your patience gets tested? Yea, God just doesn't give you patience. After having Lucy and listening to this sermon over and over again about peace, I realized that not only is peace chosen, but so are all the Fruits of the Spirit. After you pray for the Fruits of the Spirit God just doesn't give them to you, he gives you a situation to learn whatever Fruit of the Spirit you are praying for. This definately changed my thinking. Wow, to know that I can choose JOY! Not happiness, which is temporary and is superficial, but joy: something deep within us, that exudes a kind of happiness and light in our lives. That said, let me talk about "Love". Choosing to love people is hard. It says in 1 Corinthians 13:2b-3 "And I have Faith that can move mountains, but do not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I GAIN nothing." To me if you or me are going through life and feel like you or me have no purpose or like you or I have gained nothing, I feel that that means you or I am focusing to much on ourselves. Life truly isn't about us. Granted I can be an incredibly selfish person, but after my struggles in the past I am grateful that I know better now. I feel that I have gained a lot by learning to really love someone. I hope that Sammie feels loved, but honestly I can't control how he FEELS. The only thing I can control is how I love him and do my best. If you feel that you have done your best to love someone by "going through all the motions" then I hate to say it...its just not enough. ANY relationship cannot be based on legalism. That includes your relationship with God. Love is not just an action, but something that comes from Christ who lives in our hearts. It is something to be felt also. To feel nothing in life, good or bad, is a loss in itself. Fear is someting I struggle with and I know that I can choose whether or not to live my life in fear. It was not until I really got to know Christ what John meant when he said, "Perfect love drives out fear." I had to really learn what love is for me, to know how to drive out fear. Fear to me is not only just doubt, but it is selfishness. Fear is something that I continually struggle with and continually have to choose not to do or feel. Fear feeds into doubt. To me, doubt can be a lifestyle. The whole "I believe in Christ, BUT". If there is a BUT you are doubting Christ's abilities. It is a huge mess and a huge circle that we struggle with. Learning how to drive out fear, is learning how to love someone other than yourself. This is a constant thing to learn and to make better choices means to change your lifestlye of doubt. This all said, what do you think would happen if we continually CHOSE the fruits of the spirit? But choosing these, means giving control over to God. I mean, I know one of them is "self-control", but who is to say that just means choosing to control your fear, doubt, or selfishness by laying it at the feet of Christ? And choosing not to feel or live those things, by choosing Christ. I hope all of this made sense....