Peace and Joy Can Be Yours For The Asking!

It sounds crazy, doesn’t it? The thought of finding peace and joy in our hectic and fast-paced world seems just about impossible. I understand, but I stand by my statement. In fact, I’ll kick it up a notch. Not only can peace and joy be yours for the asking, but so can patience, love, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Want to know how? Once again, it has to do with our friend the Holy Spirit!

Peace and Joy…

If the Holy Spirit is working in your life, you will display a very specific set of characteristics. Sometimes referred to as “fruits”, these characteristics will be seen in your words and deeds.

According to Saint Paul:

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)

That’s a pretty impressive list of qualities, don’t you think? I don’t know about you, but most of those words are not typically used to describe me. If my life isn’t bearing good fruit, does that mean the Holy Spirit isn’t doing his job?

We Need To Take Action!

When my life isn’t bearing the fruits of the Holy Spirit, it definitely means that someone isn’t doing his job. And, I’ll give you a hint, it’s not the Holy Spirit who is slacking! If our lives are not bearing the good fruit mentioned above, we need to take action. Just because the Spirit comes to dwell in us when we are baptized doesn’t mean that we will automatically be filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. We have to do something.

What Should I Do?

As I discussed in a previous post, it all starts with a simple prayer. If I want the Holy Spirit to work in my life, I have to start by inviting him. “Come, Holy Spirit” repeated a zillion times a day (slight exaggeration, I know) is a very effective prayer. When you invite the Holy Spirit to get busy, he will respond! Each time you pray these words with sincerity, you receive a little more of the Spirit’s power. That’s the first part of our responsibility.

The second thing we have to do (and this is what usually trips us up) is learn to be docile to the Holy Spirit. Here’s an example. Let’s suppose that you’re like me and struggle with patience. Instead of just making you patient, the Holy Spirit will generally whisper in your ear that you shouldn’t blow your stack when your husband is giving you a painfully detailed blow by blow description of his day at work. In other words, the Spirit will gently nudge you in the right direction, but it’s still up to you to do the right thing.

It Really Works!

I am living proof that following this simple advice really does work. Even though I still have a long way to go, my life is filled with more joy, peace and patience than ever before. It all starts by giving the Holy Spirit permission to do his thing and then listening to his advice. If you start doing this every day, you too will be filled with joy, peace, love, patience and all of that other good stuff. It takes time and doesn’t happen overnight, but it really works. Try it for yourself and see what happens!