As someone who works in a people-centered career doing counseling every day, my garden is something that usually allows me to see something tangible for my efforts. There’s no point at which you can check someone off your list as being “done” but you can look at the lovely pile of spinach, carrots, tomatoes and squash and feel a real sense of accomplishment.
But not this year.
This year, I mourn the loss of the fruits of my garden and hope for a better season next year. Just yesterday, I was out by the garden and witnessed one of the culprits of my garden’s demise. A little squirrel made the leap into a tree and sat on a branch munching an entire yellow squash he had just stolen out of my garden. Most of my garden fulfillments this year have been claimed by small rodents, leaving me with little more than a handful of green beans and a couple of cherry tomatoes.
And sometimes my life feels similar. If you are measuring your life by the “fruits” of your labor—your kids behaving, your project being completed and successful, your boxes showing checked off—it can feel like you are coming up short quite often.
I have to keep coming back to the truth that getting it all right is not why Jesus loves me. I am loved first, and success is based on God’s definition not mine. Fruit is a natural outflow of Jesus’ life in me, not a way to earn love. It is interesting that we read about the fruit of the Spirit and assume that we are to generate it ourselves in our own strength. It’s the fruit of the SPIRIT. Not the fruit of Hannah’s attempts. And the fruit isn’t a nice image maintained. It’s things like patience, love, joy and peace.I can’t measure my life by my produce, virtual or otherwise. I am loved because I am a child of God. The produce is fun, but being loved by Him is not conditional on it. Even when the outpouring of my life seems to come up short, I must look back to my Source and recognize He doesn’t measure me this way. He is the One who generates fruit, and He isn’t keeping a measuring stick to decide if I measure up in order to earn it. It is the simplicity of remaining in Him that allows the Vine’s lifeblood to flow through and generate fruit.
I have to remember in the barren times of my life’s garden that success is not measured by achievements or having everything look perfect. God’s definition of success is in my knowing Him and drawing near to Him. The fruit is a result of His Life in me, not a measure of success or failure.
But the fruit produced by the Holy Spirit within you is divine love in all its varied expressions: joy that overflows, peace that subdues, patience that endures, kindness in action, a life full of virtue, faith that prevails, gentleness of heart, and strength of spirit. Never set the law above these qualities, for they are meant to be limitless. Galatians 5:22-23 TPT