Over the Easter weekend, it was a delight to gather and dine with family. The Easter meal is always full of some favorites. This year, we added something new. It is from the Roth family and was always at Ruthie's table when she served guests a holiday meal. She shared the recipe a long time ago, but just this year, it came to mind for our Lindgren Easter meal. It was a big hit and so easy I can't believe I haven't added it before.
I call it "Aunt Ruthie's Sneaky Easy Fruit Salad". It is simply two cans of peach pie filling, two small or one large can of mandarin oranges(drained) and one can of pineapple chunks(drained). Mix the canned fruit into the peach pie filling. Then add fresh fruits your family likes: strawberries, bananas, blueberries, raspberries, grapes or kiwi. (You can add a splash of vanilla if you like that flavor with your fruit.) Yes, it is yummy and it is easy, breezy and beautiful.
Each fruit is great on it's own, but the mixed fruit salad is a rockstar. My niece took leftovers to work that night. That is the best compliment ever.
The salad made me think of the fruits of the Spirit.
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." - Galatians 5:22-23
When we He is the vine and we are the branches, there is an expectation that we bear fruit. Good fruit. Some of these "fruits" come naturally as we fall more in love with our Savior... but others... well, at least for me, require some pruning.
Pruning is painful, but always worth it in the end. The fruit is more plentiful and better on the branches that have been well tended and pruned when necessary, as some would grow wildly in all directions and bear little if any fruit, without the master's hand tending the branches.
When we all come together, sharing our fruits and mixing them together in his service, good things happen. Just like the mixing of the fruits in the peach pie filling, when we come together, in Jesus, the result is something better than any one person on their own.
My very favorite part of this verse is the reminder... after a semicolon pause ... that "; against such things there is no law." The things the Holy Spirit produces as evidence of a life surrendered to Jesus are all good things. They are things that make believers valuable and contributing society members.
"Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness, and self-control." These are positive behaviors. They are Christ honoring and Spirit wielding. They can move hearts, impact governments and communities and they can change the world when practiced faithfully.
Together, we are better. Two are better than one. The more we share, care and bear each other's burdens, the more we grow and better fruit is produced. Yes, we are better together.
Today, I am grateful for mixed fruits.
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