Galatians 5:22-23   But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

I grew up in southwestern Michigan which is an area that has been known as the Fruit Belt since the 1800s.  In the spring there are strawberries, followed in the summer and fall by cherries, blueberries, peaches, plums, pears, apples, and grapes.  The trees that produced much of the fruit all bore blossoms in the spring.  It was so wonderful to drive through the countryside and see fruit trees in bloom everywhere.

The blossoms, although beautiful in their own right, are a promise of something to come.  Whether the bearer of the fruit is a tree, a bush or a vine, the fruit is the natural result of the plant – and typically the fruit is supposed to be sweet and flavorful.

Have you ever been in an orchard where you could pick and eat the ripe fruit as you walked along?  Regardless where you find it, how pleasant it is to bite into sweet fruit and savor its taste.  Unfortunately, we’ve all probably tasted fruit that was anything but sweet and flavorful!   The typical result is wanting to spit it out.

The scriptures are clear that Christians produce fruit.  The question then isn’t, are you producing blueberries or grapes, but rather what does your fruit ‘taste’ like?  The fruit of the Spirit listed above is sweet and flavorful.  The ‘fruit of the flesh’ if you will, would be the antonyms of the fruit of the Spirit and characterized as sour and bitter.  Which fruit do we want to ‘taste’ in others?  Which fruit do we want others to ‘taste’ in our own lives?  We have choices to make because good fruit doesn’t happen by accident.

Think of the blessing that others receive from tasting love; from savoring faithfulness; from encountering kindness – from experiencing any of the fruit of the Spirit.  God wants those who encounter us – His people – to be able to walk through the orchard of our lives and taste the sweet and flavorful fruit of His Spirit.  Once they do, they’ll be back for more.