Pop-Tarts. When I was a kid, I ate all the corners first (oh, who am I kidding, I still do), saving that sticky fruit filling for last. Best of all, with Pop-Tarts, I never had to wait to eat them: delicious, straight from the box. If I had a few more seconds’ patience, the toaster oven gooed them up nicely. All in all, Pop-Tarts never required waiting, unlike my grandmother’s (infinitely better) blueberry muffins. But who wanted to wait with fake fruit right on hand?

Sometimes I read Galatians with a Pop-Tart mindset, wondering why I’m so lacking in the fruits of the Spirit. You know, the love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control found in Galatians 5. Sure, I had more patience (or forbearance) than I used to. I was more kind than I had been years ago. But, was I a patient person? Would I consider myself truly kind? No.

When Paul wrote to the Galatians, he wisely avoided instant toaster strudel imagery. “For the Pop-Tarts of the Spirit…” Uh, nope. Because Paul knew that only occasionally is the character-refining work of the Holy Spirit instant. Instead, Paul used an agricultural example. Fruit. 

When an orchard owner plunks a tiny stick of a fruit tree into the earth, that tree needs time. To grow. To reach readiness. To prepare for its season. Without the luxury of Kellogg’s, or modern grocery stores, biblical farmers knew that fruit needed time to grow. 

The Holy Spirit working in me takes time too. God doesn’t want to rush the harvest or damage the tree. I suspect He’d rather harvest superior fruit than pitiful pieces. I’d rather that too. 

It’s easy to forget the time constraints, to grow impatient (that patience thing again!) with the progress we make in our characters. Maybe the Galatians wrestled with that too, because Paul reminds them a few sentences later in Galatians 6:9 that harvest reaping must come at the proper time. And Psalm 1:3 says, “That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season…” Not out of season, but when the timing is right. 

Blueberry bushes need long seasons of growing before they produce a harvest of muffin-worthy berries. We take time too. Fortunately, the Holy Spirit has this patience thing down. 

It’s worth waiting for. Just like Grandma’s muffins.

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