HEART OF THE ISLAND By Marion Smith

Galatians 5:22 The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.

Across from our rental house on Skidaway Island is dense tropical island with a lagoon surrounding it. As I sat on the porch recently, I heard a variety of bird calls coming from the heart of this island. I then heard some other sounds which I was unable to identify, but were very clearly sounded. No animals scurried to the waters' edge, and only a few birds flew out of the dense overgrowth I was observing.
There were things in the heart of that island that I would never observe, even though I knew they were there. They were housed safely within the confines of the thicket, taking no chances to venture out of their safe harbor.

The Bible talks about something called the fruit of the spirit which is given to each believer when we accept Jesus as our Savior. It is placed in our hearts, and we must decide if we will allow it to surface to the outside of our life or if we will just harbor it in our hearts and minds. Sometimes it may be safer to keep it inside us, because people may not understand us when we exhibit these attributes. When we show love for other-even the unlovable, exuberance for life despite heartaches, serenity through turmoil, willingness to stick with something that has become soooo tiring, no grumbling ,generosity, sincere compassion, faithfulness and self control-others may not understand.This "fruit" is truly a gift from God. What we do with it
is our decision - will we hide these Godly attributes snug within ourselves, or faithfully exhibit them, as God intended?