Sometimes, I have to say, I am not the brightest crayon in the box. In July this year Ash and I welcomed our little boy, Albert into the world. Albert is our only child (so far) and Ash and I have been well aware of the changes that are thrust upon couples having their first baby. However I did not think that as my life was changing at a very fast pace, that my expressions of love would also change. Recently I re-did the love survey, basically expecting similar results, not thinking that having a baby would affect the way I give and receive justice, truth and grace. But boy was I wrong!
Beginning with the celebrations… my highest fruit came up as JOY. When I discovered this, my mind shouted a long woooooooo-hooooooo!!! Joy has been a big struggle in my life, but through working on it, learning from Ash and others, reading up on it and arguing with God about it I seem to have made much process. I have to give partial credit to Albert for this also; having a baby has brought so much more joy into my life than I thought was possible…(but let me be clear and say that he has certainly helped my joy grow by challenging it as well ☺ ) My second highest was self control – another one that I have been working on for a few years now. Because I started growing in this fruit before Albert was born, I found it easier to give him stability and a routine through the day. I comprehend that structures are not life-suffocating, but life-giving!
Now for my lowest fruit – faithfulness…. I have to say I was surprised that this one came up as my lowest. Like most of the fruits, I have been working on my faithfulness for a couple of years now, and thought I had made some progress. My initial shock was soon to be overcome, however when I re-read the faithfulness section in the 3COL book. Faithfulness has always been explained to me as being reliable, which is very accurate. However, the level of application I have previously applied reliability was always with friends, family, co-workers and within my marriage etc.. To me, the word "faithfulness” only meant being on time, being trustworthy and basically, keeping the commitments I had made to my loved ones. I had totally forgotten that being reliable to God was just as important as being reliable to others around me
God has many plans for my life, and he has asked me to do some things to make his plans prevail. Sometimes I doubt the plans God has for me, that they probably won't transpire, but I now see that not following through on the things God himself has asked me to do is not being faithful to Him. The question I am asking myself regularly is "Can God count on me to do his work today?” And I encourage any and all of you to ask the same question of me – "Can God count on you today? Have you been faithful with ALL that God has given you?”