I’m impartial to a pomegranate. They’re juicy and fresh but just SO tedious, so messy, and sometimes I genuinely get tired of crunching on those seeds. Maybe there are some hacks I’m unaware of and if you are harbouring any tricks, please share! For now, though, pomegranates test my patience and that is why I’ve chosen this physical fruit to showcase what I find to be a challenging spiritual fruit: patience.

My husband, Andrew, absolutely loves pomegranate. If I put a pomegranate in my grocery cart, it is not because I want to eat a pomegranate. It is because I am willing to use a good chunk of my time to show him how much I love him. When Andrew was a welder, I packed his lunch for work most days, and one time I de-seeded a pomegranate so he could have a full container of seeds without any hassle. That day when he was at work, he sent me a very sweet text message hyping me up as a wife and I had a feeling he was eating pomegranate as he sent that message. I asked him that evening, and it was indeed the yummy snack that brought on that extra appreciation. Wouldn’t it be great if our patience was always celebrated in such an obvious way?

Like many good things, we make the disciplined choice to be patient. I put out a poll on my Instagram a bit ago about which fruit of the spirit was most challenging. People answered and it was overwhelmingly patience. What tests your patience the most? Your own shortcomings? Dealing with other people? Achieving goals? The other drivers on the road?

There are so many things in life that we think if it was just instantaneous, life would be better. I’ll share some of my examples with you. I want my cardio and strength to be improved the second I get off this office chair. I wanted to launch Love Encompassing and have a full schedule of clients right away. I want my basement renovations to be completed if I walk through that door right now. I want to have a lot of scripture memorized, understood, and internalized at this moment. I wanted my husband to be on my sleep schedule right when we moved in together. I could go on and on.

What would I gain from this and what would I lose?

If I can run 10km and do pull-ups right when I get off this chair, I would have gained muscle and cardio health but I would lose the journey to get there: the discipline, the progression, and the dopamine of overcoming challenges as well as the habit forming that can be a lifelong benefit.

If I started this business and had a full schedule of clients right away, I wouldn’t have great appreciation for business start-ups like I do now. I wouldn’t have to put myself out there and grow confidence in this role the Lord has me in. I wouldn’t have felt the need to rely deeply on Him. I wouldn’t have had time to think creatively about personal growth coaching packages that could bless people in the future (ideas developing right now).

If my basement renovations were magically completed, I’d have more living and gathering space but I wouldn’t gain so many new skills and I wouldn’t learn to prioritize my time to include this work. I possibly still haven’t.

If I memorized scripture without ever opening my Bible, I wouldn’t have that precious time with the Lord. I might not have conversations with others about scripture I find difficult to understand or need perspective on. 

If my husband went to bed and woke up at the same times as me, well… I can’t really think of a downside to that, I definitely have the healthier sleep routine out of the two of us, but that’s his journey. Something I’ve been thinking about recently is that we must have patience for other people to learn and grow. In our friendships, family, and other relationships, we want things from other people, and we may express these desires or expectations. It might even come from a place of wanting to see someone thrive, but do we then give them the space, with patience, to grow?

Are you giving yourself the space, with patience, to grow?

Are you allowing God to guide you on this journey?

Ecclesiastes 7:8 says, “The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride.”

The beginning of a matter is usually filled with uncertainty and often, hard work. It takes patience to get to the end, but along that journey, there’s a sense of purpose and a lot of character development to be had. God’s timing may require patience, but it is perfect and of that, I’m sure.