Grow those Spiritual Fruits

"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 ESV

In an interesting article posted by Runner's World Tuesday, non-elite runner Michael Ko shared the unconventional training schedule he devised that earned him a 2:56 at the Tokyo Marathon. In his training block leading up to Tokyo, Ko said that he started to see the fruits of a nine-day (as opposed to the normal seven-day) training cycle. He noticed that his easy runs were actually feeling easy, he could bring his full effort to those speed training sessions, and—most importantly—he was just enjoying his running more because he felt recovered. “Overall, I just didn’t have that same feeling of underwater fatigue that I normally get when I’m really deep into a marathon training block,” he says. That said, Ko says an extended training plan isn’t for everyone. For example, if you’re an athlete who feels like you need plenty of long runs in every block, this cycle won’t be for you. Plus, because of the way the schedule works, you’ll have to run a fair amount of long runs during the week—which may just not be doable if you have a nine-to-five. Still, if you’re looking for a way to add a little extra juice to those threshold workouts, it may be worth giving the nine-day run week a shot.

And you know, just as Ko was able to measure the success of his training plan by seeing "the fruits" of his labor grow, we can measure the success of our spiritual training by seeing "the fruits" of our labor grow as well--the fruits of the Spirit that are "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." You can be sure that this will take serious thought and effort on our part though, as these fruits don’t come naturally but are the direct result of a growing faith and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. These fruits are watered and grown in proportion to the amount of time we spend with the Son, through Bible study, prayer, fellowship with other believers, and meditation. 

So make it your first priority to grow in God my friend. Do what it takes to set apart time each and every day to train in the Word and spend time with the Father. You will reap eternal rewards far greater than any other earthly pursuit you could ever embark on. 

Heavenly Father, thank You for reminding us that growing more like You requires effort each and every day. Lord, give us a passion for reading Your Word that we might exhibit the fruits of the Spirit in more abundant ways. Remind us that it's these fruits that set us apart as Your children and the unconventional and unworldly characteristics that attract nonbelievers to the Holy Spirit who lives inside us. It's in your precious name we pray Jesus. Amen.

Happy Running!