When you consider Jesus' comment, “By their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:20), do you ever ask yourself, “What are the fruits of my life?” I do. I ask what fruits I want to bring forth. What fruits do I want to be known for?
The author had her answers to the questions, but it really made me think about mine. What are my motivations? What's important to me? What do I want to accomplish? What do I want to be known for? My mind went to my family first, more specifically to my kids. At first I thought I want to be known for raising righteous sons to the Lord. But then I realized that I can't really say that. While I can influence their righteous choices, my fruits can't depend on their agency. I needed to rethink that idea. What could I accomplish?
- I want to love my children, and do my level best to teach them the gospel and make my home a place where they can feel the Spirit.
Articulating the goal makes me want to do so much better; to be more patient, and loving, to testify more, and to do more to keep the things that drive the Spirit away out of my home.
The second thing I thought of was my own Spiritual growth. The author of the article said the fruit she wanted was the peace of mind that comes from knowing the Savior. That is a wonderful thought. I kept thinking about all the things that go into that, and the time I want to spend every day getting to know him. I always have great plans for my personal scripture study, the hours I want to spend studying and praying. :) Somehow things don't really seem to work that way. But something later in the article helped me articulate the fruit that I was thinking of.
- I want to always remember Him.
I know I already promise to do this, but life gets so busy, and it seems like I forget. When I remember to focus whatever I'm doing on Him, I do feel His peace in my life. I still need to work on training my mind to come back to Christ, to keep him in the forefront of my thoughts and heart all of the time. I know I can dedicate even the mundane details of my life to him, and find joy and peace in say, picking up with Helaman for the 500th time in a day. That's the fruit I want. A life always focused on Him.
Thinking about the fruits as what I want to be known for really gave pause. When I'm being completely honest with myself, I want to be known for being smart and funny. I want to be known as a person who is reliable, and the person who gets things done. I want to be known for being cheerful and upbeat. For being brave. For being helpful. Perfect, actually, would be great. It's hard to separate what is just being prideful, from what are really good goals. I know it's all in my intent, to serve God or be cool myself, but it's hard for me to tell.
I think what it really all comes down to in the end there's a simple way to state what it is I want to be known for.
- I want to be known for being good.
Well, that's a lot to think about....
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