We don’t force the fruit of the Spirit into existence. It grows from a life that stays connected to God.
I think sometimes we read the list in Galatians 5—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control—and turn it into a spiritual checklist.
I need to be more patient.
I need to have more joy.
I need to be more loving.
I need to have more peace.
And before we know it, we’re trying to manufacture in our own strength what only the Spirit can produce.
But something amazing happens in John 15… Jesus doesn’t tell the branch to try harder to produce fruit. He tells it to remain in the vine.
“Remain in me… No branch can bear fruit by itself…” —John 15:4
The branch has one job: stay connected. The fruit is the evidence of that connection.
That doesn’t mean spiritual growth is passive. We still obey. We still surrender. We still make choices that align with God’s Word. But those choices flow from our dependence on Him, not our attempt to transform ourselves apart from Him.
This is at the heart of my upcoming book, I Stopped Praying for My Kids… and Started Praying for Myself. I began to realize that the transformation I wanted to see in my family had to begin with God transforming me. More patience, more gentleness, and more self-control weren’t going to come from simply trying harder to be a better mom or a better Christian. They would grow as I learned to surrender my own heart to God and allow Him to change me from the inside out.
#IStoppedPrayingForMyKids #ISPFMK #AutumnMontgomeryWrites #GodTransformsOurParenting
