Your Fruit Matters

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! (Galatians 5:22-23)

What kind of fruit do you produce on your job? My job? Yes, your job. Whether you wake up excited and vibrant ready to embark upon another day of work, or you drag yourself out of bed wishing the weekend would come more quickly, the type of fruit you produce on your job does matter and it can make a difference in the lives of others.

For the past five years I’ve worked nights as a nurse in a hospital. As one can imagine I’ve taken care of all different types of patients and their family. I’ve worked shifts where everything went smoothly, and my patients were content, but I’ve also worked shifts where it seemed that no matter what I did and how hard I tried a patient was not satisfied. Typically, this has nothing to do with me directly as their nurse, but compiled frustrations of being sick and hospitalized for several days; however, caring for an unsatisfied patient can still make a shift very challenging and tiring.

Over the course of my career, I’ve developed the habit of saying a prayer before I start any shift at the hospital. I pray that God will be with me (my hands, feet, mind and tongue) as I care for His people. It’s during the busier and more stressful nights that sometimes I must stop in my tracks, amid quickly gathering another medicine or filling another cup with ice and water and ask the Lord to help me adequately get through the remainder of the shift. How amazing is it that on several occasions when I’ve least expected it, the same patients who made my night rather challenging were the same ones who by the end of the shift said, “Thank you for being patient with me. Thank you for being so kind. We need more nurses like you.”

Reflecting on a shift, I remember hearing a variation of these comments from two separate patients. Hearing compliments like these only made me smile at God with admiration and gratefulness. I could only think, “Wow God how cool is that? Patient. Kind. Those are all fruits of the Spirit you’ve shown to my patients, through me, amid a stressful and difficult night.”

So again, I ask, what type of fruit do you produce on your job? In your life it may be the typical Monday through Friday nine to five, or volunteer at a local center, or a busy day at home with your children. In whatever way a job is displayed in your life right now, know that your fruit matters because you never know how the kind of fruit you produce can positively impact the life of another, while reflecting the character of Jesus Christ.