May the fruit of the Spirit grow in me richly, today

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness... Gal. 5:22

A.B. Simpson

Nature's harshness has melted away and she is now beaming with the smile of spring, and everything around us whispers of the gentleness of God. This beautiful fruit is in lovely harmony with the gentle month of which it is the keynote. May the Holy Spirit lead us, beloved, these days, into His sweetness, quietness, and gentleness, subduing every coarse, rude, harsh, and unholy habit, and making us like Him, of whom it is said, He shall not strive, nor cry, nor cause His voice to be heard in the streets.

The man who is truly filled with Jesus will always be a gentleman. The woman who is baptized of the Holy Spirit, will have the instincts of a perfect lady, although low born and little bred in the schools of earthly refinement. Beloved, let us receive and reflect the gentleness of Christ, the spirit of the holy babe, until the world will say of us, as the polished and infidel Chesterfield once said of the saintly Fenelon, If I had remained in his house another day, I should have had to become a Christian. Lord, help us today, to so yield to the gentle Dove–Spirit, that our lives shall be as His life.

Selah.

This reading by A.B. Simpson convicted me. It called to mind the story told of John Welsh of Ayr, the son-in-law of the great John Knox. A visiting friar needed lodging, and so was welcomed to the home of Welsh, the Presbyterian Covenanter. The friar heard talking during the night, and thought it was the devil, living in the house of the famous Protestant pastor. He fully intended to move on before the next night, but when he mentioned the night whispers to a villager, the villager laughed. "That's just Welsh praying. He prays more than another other pastor in France."

The friar agreed to stay one more night, resolving to listen to the words more closely. So he did. And when he turned his ear toward discerning the words, he began to weep -- for he had never heard prayer like this in his life. The next day he confessed his need of grace to John Welsh, who prayed for him. And he became a pastor in the Covenant.

Selah.

Lord, grant that in me the fruit of your Spirit would grow so richly that others might be drawn to the harvest-beauty, the holy music.

Amen.