Fruits of the Spirit – Week 9
Galatians 5:22-23 – Patience Cont.
It’s one of the world’s rarest flowers – so rare that it was seen in bloom only about twenty times in the United States in the last century. Its scarcity isn’t the only thing that has made as many as 76,000 people line up for a look at it.
The titan arum is also the world’s largest bloom. Just the bloom can measure eight feet tall and four feet across. The plant, which is native to Indonesia, must be tended patiently and exactingly for weeks or months before the grower is rewarded with a bloom. The plant blooms only a few times in its forty-year life span and the bloom only lasts about seventy-two hours before it collapses on itself due to its tremendous weight.
But what makes this rare flower worth the wait isn’t its size either, but rather its scent. Scent may be too polite a word. The flower is also known as the corpse flower. Its scent has been described as a nauseating rotten-flesh, or ripe manure smell. In fact, in one nursery in Michigan, the plant had to be moved outside when it was in full bloom, and even so, people reported that the smell “would take your breath away” if you were twenty yards downwind of it.
What makes the story of the corpses flower a story about patience?
Is this flower worth the wait? Why or why not?
What parallels can you make from this story to times in your life when you’ve had to be patient?
Jot down your thoughts about patience as you read these passages:
Proverbs 14:29, 15:18, 19:11, 25:15
Romans 12:12, 1 Corinthians 13:4, Ephesians 4:2, 2 Timothy 4:2
Why is patience a particularly important virtue for Christians?
How should we exhibit patience in our lives?
What good does being patient bring about?
How would your life be different if you exhibited more patience?
How would having more patience affect your walk with God? Your relationship with others?
How does the Holy Spirit grow patience in our lives?
What is our role in that process?
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