How am I going to handle this week?

Anyone who knows me, either personally or professionally, knows that I'm a Christ-follower, but I respectfully keep my thoughts on business and my thoughts on faith separate, as they are parts of the same whole.  This week, however, I'm not going to be able to separate those two parts as crisply as I usually do, and that's OK. 

Yesterday in church, the pastor's sermon challenged us to decide how we're going to handle spiritual fruit this week.  Are we going to let life so overwhelm us that we bear no spiritual fruit, or are we going to bear spiritual fruit for the sake of making ourselves look impressive and big? 

Galatians 5:22-23 describes the fruits of the Spirit as love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  So, I think about those and I think about how busy this week is as I prepare for my first show of the year, teaching my two girls, and the craziness that will be Friday and Saturday.  In the midst of all this, how am I going to manifest spiritual fruit even as I'm overwhelmed, stressed and tired?  That will be my question daily for my girls and myself, as well as our daily prayer:  "Lord, help us show love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control today" (because I'm only focusing on getting through today).

The beautiful thing about these fruits of the Spirit are, you don't have to be a Christ-follower to embrace and embody them, so please don't think these are just "Christian" ideals.  I have friends of different faiths (and no professed faith) who embody these character traits.

What qualities will you choose to exhibit this week?

Related articles

• Patience Is A Fruit Of The Spirit
• Arthur: If I Had It To Do Over