If you’ve ever planted a garden, you know it takes time. The soil has to be prepared, seeds need to be planted, watered, nurtured and—perhaps hardest of all—given time to grow. The same is true for the fruit of the Spirit.
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control—these aren’t just virtues we try to summon on our best days. They are the natural results of living a life rooted in Christ and open to the work of the Holy Spirit.
But let’s be honest. It’s not always easy.
Love is hard when you’ve been hurt. Joy is hard when you’re facing loss. Peace is hard in a noisy world. Patience? That one tests us in traffic, in parenting and in seasons of waiting. And self-control can feel almost impossible when our emotions run high or the pressures of life push us to our limits.
That’s why these are called fruits—they grow. Slowly. Over time. Through trial, prayer and the work of the Holy Spirit in us. We don’t produce them on our own. We cultivate space for God to grow them in us.
Maybe today you feel like your branches are a little bare. Maybe you’re walking through a season where kindness feels forced or joy feels far away. That’s okay. Spiritual growth isn’t about perfection—it’s about surrender.
Ask God to grow what you can’t. Water your heart with Scripture. Pull up the weeds of comparison, bitterness or fear. Let the sunlight of His presence warm the places in your life that feel cold or unfruitful.
And keep showing up.
You may not see the fruit overnight, but one day you’ll realize you reacted with gentleness instead of anger. You’ll notice joy in the middle of stress. You’ll recognize that, little by little, God is transforming your life from the inside out.
That’s the beauty of the Spirit’s work. It’s not about striving harder—it’s about staying connected to the Vine.

