The scent of orange blossom surrounds me as I sit on my patio. The flowers have suddenly burst into bloom throughout the neighborhood and their fragrance permeates everywhere.
The beautiful white flowers turn into fruit, which, in a few months, will add nutrition and goodness to my meals. Curiously, there are still healthy fruit maturing from last season even as this next season begins. When I’ve eaten the last of my crop, the new batch will be well on its way. The flowers and fragrance will be gone but the new fruit will be already making its appearance.
What a blessing to have this aromatic reminder of what is to come. The Creator brings forth new fruit with established order, evidence of His goodness. The season of growth is so reliable and yet, after a winter’s pause, it somehow takes me by surprise. The blossom becomes for me a glimpse of God’s ways. His promises offer hope, a foretaste of what is to come. I am surrounded by the aroma of His faithfulness and yet somehow surprised at the fruit He has produced in me.
Do I exude such a fragrance of His holiness to others? Is it the scent of hope and the assurance of the Faithful One? Can it be sensed as a lingering impression even after I leave? I hope and pray that my effects on those in my life are as refreshing and uplifting as the orange blossoms.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Galatians 5:22-23
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