Fresh Fruit: Patience

Fresh Fruit: Patience

Bible Blast: Read Proverbs 25:15

The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, PATIENCE, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

Galatians 5:22-23

Potatoes are amazing. One potato can feed one person or many people. How could you feed several people with one potato? You’d have to plant it, which requires some patience. First you have to “chit” the potato by cutting it into pieces and letting them rot for a couple of days. Then you put them in a warm place. After a week, the pieces will grow sprouts or “eyes.” Then you plant them in a trench. The potatoes will be ready to harvest in a couple of months. One seed potato may produce up to ten potatoes! If you need to eat right now, one potato will satisfy your hunger. But if you have the time, you could plant that potato and feed your entire family.

“Good things come to those who wait.” It’s so true—and not just with gardening. Most of the world isn’t willing to wait for anything. If people have to wait too long for a meal at a restaurant, they demand their money back. Instead of waiting until they have the cash to buy something, people use a credit card so they can have it right away.

When we’re impatient, we’re telling the world that we deserve better. It’s really a way of saying, “I’m too important to wait.” That ugly thing called pride starts taking over. But waiting isn’t always bad. It often produces more for us, not less.

This year, my son needed to have an operation that cost $15,000 dollars. We didn’t have $15,000, and our insurance company had never paid for this specific surgery. We were worried, but we decided to pray. It took a lot of patience, but one month later we got a letter saying they had approved the payment. Better than giving us the money, God took the bill away entirely! He does great things like that when we pray and wait patiently.

Girl Gab: Consider renting a movie entitled Faith like Potatoes. It’s an amazing true story about faith. It involves a lot of patience—and potatoes! You’ll love it, and it’ll give you a lot of great things to gab about as mother and daughter!