Broccoli, Chocolate, Discipline...and Me.

Twenty-something years ago a chubby-cheeked little Stephie and her sandy-haired big brother sit and recite to their mom,

"All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness." Heb. 12:11

Sitting around our oak dining room table with the backdrop of our California sunshine, my little girl self exists, unsuspecting and under appreciating that Mom feeds us words to nourish our souls. Unfortunately, those words taste like broccoli and not like chocolate.

Throughout my childhood I completely identify with the "sorrowful" part of that verse. The spankings that sprinkle my days in gravely interesting ways cause much of that sorrow. "Stephie, don't procrastinate, first time obedience!" "Calm down and control yourself," and "Don't instigate your brother!" echo often through our home. The discipline comes calmly and lovingly, but as my rear stings with the healthy smacks of my parent's paddle, I feel sorrow. Discipline, for the moment, seems not to be joyful, but terribly, terribly sorrowful. It looms as the broccoli of life.

Fast forward to my second year of marriage with Clay. Driving in the car with blinks of sunlight and shade floating on our windshield, we talk about our relationship and the practices we see help our marriage. Clay compliments me on something...one of those disciplines so diligently instilled years ago...and I have to say, "You need to thank my mom for that! She did such a great job of teaching me!" In that moment, with the swell of happiness from the praise of my husband, discipline seems very, very sweet indeed. The peaceful fruit of righteousness tastes better than the finest of chocolates. Who would have thought?

These peeks into times both distant and near encourage me again. I still often associate discipline with the wholesome and stodgy taste of broccoli. I still focus on the moment, procrastinating in what I know I ought to do, and sometimes, I still cherish the delight of instigating my brother - lovingly now, of course. But as I am gently reminded by those dearest to me, I still desperately need discipline. I need to practice the disciplines of godliness: cherishing the gospel, diligence in the Word, and living sacrificially, among others. As Barbara Hughes puts it in her book Disciplines of a Godly Woman, 

"The discipline of the gospel is coming to God on His terms."

 So often I fail, morningly, daily, and nightly, but I know what I want - I desire the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Fruit tastes sweet, and fruit coming from a life yielded to God's terms tastes tantalizing. Don't give up because the training seems hard. Don't quit because you have failed to discipline yourself for the sake of righteousness (I fail again and again). We may have the peaceful fruit of righteousness for dessert, our heavenly Father tells us, but first we must discipline ourselves and eat our broccoli. First comes sorrow, but then...what joy awaits!

Ways In Which We Grow

I apologize ladies for dropping the ball this week! Despite my lack of timeliness, I wanted to share with you a little of what I have been learning recently. 

As I say it again, 
I have a LONG way to go...and sometimes it seems like this road keeps getting longer. I realize more and more every day that sin is a whole lot of gross and ugly, and that my sole dependence is on the Lord. It is only by His grace that I am where I am and it is He who keeps me running to Him.  

I have been learning through the day-to-day that I must keep coming to the Lord in order to grow. Though don't like to admit it, I am a lot of the time impatient. I desire growth but become discouraged when I continue to stumble in certain areas of my life. I've realized though, through this ongoing process of "putting off sin, and putting on Christlikeness," that growing in Sanctification is a glorious thing! I have been studying it specifically and how it is manifesting in my own life and through my circumstances. Recently I ran across an article that hit me square in the face and so I wanted to share it with all of you!...

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."

Galatians 5:22-23

"Just about every Christian has memorized the closing verses of Galatians and Paul’s description of the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. This is the character of the man or woman who has been justified by grace through faith. Yet as we review the list, and especially as we review it slowly and prayerfully, we may find ourselves growing weary and discouraged by how little of that fruit we see. We are still angry at times, still struggling with self-control, still not nearly as gentle as Jesus Christ was and is. Paul’s metaphor of the “fruit” of the Spirit can help us, though. Here are five things that are true of fruit trees and, therefore, true of the fruit of the Spirit.

1. Growth is Gradual. We are an impatient people accustomed to instant gratification. But fruit grows slowly. A fruit tree grows gradually and over many years of careful and deliberate cultivation. If you purchase a sapling apple tree today, a sapling which is already more than a year old and well established, and if you plant it in the right climate zone and in fertile soil, and if there are other trees nearby that can help pollinate it, and if you care for it exactly as you should, it will probably be close to 5 years before you see the first apple dangling from the end of a branch and many years beyond that before it is at its top production, bearing the most and best fruit. Trees are tended carefully, pruned deliberately, and loved patiently until they bear the best fruit. Our growth in character is also far more gradual than we may like but the patience that is to mark our lives first marks God himself; he is patient with us as we grow toward maturity.

2. Growth is Inevitable. A healthy fruit tree that has been lovingly tended will bear fruit. It is inevitable. It is equally inevitable that the Christian indwelled by the Holy Spirit will and must bear fruit. No matter what the Christian’s life is like when he is first saved, that fruit will grow and display itself. The inevitability of fruit challenges every person who professes faith to examine his life to ask whether the Spirit’s fruit is present there. While we are saved by faith and not fruit, the fact remains that faith necessarily produces fruit. The growth is inevitable where there is life.

3. Growth is Internal. Fruit trees grow and produce fruit when they are deeply rooted in good soil and when the tree is internally strong. Fruit cannot grow on dead branches attached to a dead trunk and dead roots. It is not the fruit that makes the tree alive but the living tree that produces the fruit. In the same way the outworking of the fruit of the Spirit depends upon internal life. It is not giftedness—even what may be spiritual gifts—that proves that the Christian is alive, but fruit. The fruit of the Spirit is proof of a deep, internal health and grows out of that deep, internal health.

4. Growth is Symmetrical. A healthy fruit tree does not grow fruit on only one of its branches, but on all of them. There is a symmetry to a healthy, thriving fruit tree so that the whole tree bows low under the weight of all the fruit. The Christian’s growth is similar. Whenever we look at the fruit of the Spirit we need to acknowledge that the word fruit is singular, not plural. The fruit is the entire list, not the individual character traits. This tells us that this fruit also grows together with a kind of symmetry. These traits are so inevitably linked that we cannot have one without the others. It is impossible to truly love without being patient and kind. It is impossible to exhibit self-control toward another person without a God-given joy. The wise farmer tends his orchard with patience and love, expecting that when his trees have been cared for properly, they will indeed bear fruit. The Holy Spirit tends us with that same patience and love, knowing that we too will bear fruit that will attest to his presence and bring glory to the Father. 

5. Growth is Invisible. You can stand beside a fruit tree all day and all night and you will never actually see the fruit grow. No one has ever seen an apple visibly grow larger. Apples do grow, of course, but not in a way that can be measured in real-time. In the same way, the Christian’s growth is best measured after time and difficult circumstances have passed. It is after times of great sorrow or difficulty that you can say, “I used to respond to a situation like this with anger and lashing out; but yesterday I responded with joy and self-control.” The growth has been invisible, but real."

(Challies)

This encourages me to continue "...running with endurance the race set before me." (Hebrews 12:1) And in that process "...grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 3:18) Growth is gradual and it is hard sometimes, but don't be discouraged. Remember that God is patient with us in times of weakness. "..He is able to keep you from stumbling and present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy." (Jude 1:24) God is good and He is gracious, beyond what we deserve. Let that be what drives us to grow exceedingly more into the image of His Son, Jesus.

In Christ, 

Tiffany