Smoothies of Life

Teresa Larson is a junior at Alma majoring in elementary education and working to get her early      childhood endorsement. She likes music, working with kids, and playing in sun-showers. 

Of all of the great improvements that are going on around campus, I must say that my favorite by far is addition of Stucchi’s. I personally think it’s one of the highlights of our campus, and the perfect place for a lunch or dinner date or meeting spot for your group to work on a project. All of the delicious coffees, snacks, and of course ice cream have made a perfect haven for us to step outside of the cafeteria and spend time with other college students and members of the community. My personal favorite thing to get when I go to Stucchi’s is some kind of smoothie…the perfect blend of all of the delicious fruits and flavors can make this simple treat the highlight of my day.

One of my all-time favorite bible passages is Galatians 5:22-23, also known as the Fruits of the Spirit (quick, how quickly you can name them all!!)…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. I sat looking at that list one day, thinking about those fruits of the spirits that I think I do alright with, and those that I really need to seek God’s direction and guidance with. As I’m sure many of us can relate, the second list was much longer than the first.

Like most people, I think best with analogies. So let’s say that I’m a smoothie…I prefer something passion peach-like. I’ve got a mango of peace, a little bit of pineapple of patience, and nice  healthy serving of a peach of gentleness. Ta-da, that’s my smoothie and I’m delicious!

But what about the strawberries of love, or the grapefruits of faithfulness, or the kiwis of faithfulness (the list goes on, but you get the idea)? What about all those delicious flavors? Sure, I’m a decent smoothie with my own fruits of the spirit, but why wouldn’t I want to be the best smoothie ever and have all of the fruits of the spirits? When we look to the perfect smoothie, we look to one with all of the flavors, not just three or four.

In the same way, when we look for the perfect example of how to lead our lives, we look to the one with all of the fruits of the spirit. Jesus was a real, living human being that walked among us and who’s sprit dwells with us now that was the best example of how to live our lives…full of love, joy, and peace, embracing patience, kindness, and goodness, and demonstrating faithfulness and gentleness, and showing us how to live a life of self-control…the perfect fruit smoothie.