Gifts and Fruits

The scriptures talk about both the "gifts of the Spirit" and the "fruits of the Spirit", and often the same substance such as faith or hope is described as both a gift of the Spirit or a fruit of the Spirit. A gift isn't something we earn or deserve. Our Heavenly Father loves us and He loves to bless our lives with gifts. Fruits, however, must be cultivated and grown with hard work and diligence and patience. We should not feel guilty when God simply hands us a gift, even if we feel like there should have been more effort on our parts to have deserved to receive this gift. At the same time, we should not feel discouraged when the Lord requires us to be patient and to keep watering our seed of faith with our blood, sweat and tears until the fruit He has prepared for us has fully ripened. There are times when the Apostles of Jesus Christ cast out devils and cured diseases with little to no effort on their parts. Such miracles were a gift. And then there was a time when none of them could help and the Savior said this kind only cometh out through much prayer and fasting. Some blind people Jesus healed with a mere word, and others he rubbed mud into their eyes and told them to wash out the blindness in a certain pool. Sometimes our blessings are gifts, and sometimes they are fruits, but if we can receive all of them in the spirit of humility and gratitude and love, then we will prize and value and cherish each of the gifts and fruits the Lord blesses us with.