Use your spiritual fruit to find peace, joy in life

"By their fruit you will recognize them."

- Matthew 7:20 (NIV)

A few years ago, my neighbor planted some new trees on their vacant lot. I was curious as to what kind of trees they might be.

One day, while out in my yard, I glanced at the young trees just as I often do, when I noticed bright, red apples hanging from the branches.

I find it interesting how the Bible uses the simple things that are present in our daily lives to give us spiritual insights, such as fruit on trees. Jesus explained that the more spiritually mature we become, the more of the sacred fruits we would display.

I like to think of spiritual fruit as the special qualities in us that display mature choices of a Godly nature, and the mysteries to living exceptional, fulfilled lives.

Like the fruit on each beautiful tree, the scriptures describe these exceptional qualities as "love, joy, peace, forbearance (or patience), goodness, kindness, gentleness, humility and self-control" (Galatians 5:22,23).

To use them, we can make a simple, conscious effort to utilize them as God intended.

Many think love is simply a happy feeling and only display it when they feel like it. Instead, it should be perceived as a choice that, when used, brings about loving actions.

Choosing joy helps us handle the difficult things in life with a positive perspective and keeps us enjoying life in the midst of our challenges. Keeping the faith fuels us to keep going when we feel hopeless. When we utilize patience, we display more than the ability to last, but to persevere with a good attitude.

Kindness is that encouraging fruit that can lift our spirit when the going gets tough and shows the sweet mercy of God. Peace gives us inner strength and tranquility, giving us the ability to follow that God intuition deep within our hearts.

And last, but not least, God's provision of self-control provides us with the discipline to function and use the fruit in our daily lives.

Some of the fruits may come easier to us than others, but I believe if we keep working on putting each of them into practice, we can display good taste and, like those delicious apples hanging on the tree, be noticed by our fruit.

• Annettee Budzban is a Christian author, speaker, life coach and nurse. She can be contacted at annetteebudzban@aol.com or (847) 543-8413.