The Fruit of the Spirit: Still Growing After 60

By the time we’ve reached our sixties or seventies, you’d think we’d have most things figured out. After all, we’ve raised families, weathered storms, survived disappointments, and learned a thing or two about life along the way.

Surely by now we’ve mastered patience, kindness, and self-control.

And then somebody gets in front of us at the grocery store with 47 items in the express lane.

Well, so much for that.

I’ve come to realize that growing older and growing spiritually aren’t necessarily the same thing. Age brings experience, and hopefully a little wisdom, but it doesn’t automatically make us more patient, more loving, or more Christlike.

Apparently, the Lord still has some work to do on us.

And you know what? I’m rather glad He does.

A Different Kind of Fruit Basket

Most of us are familiar with the fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22–23:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” — Galatians 5:22–23 (KJV)

Depending on the Bible translation you’re accustomed to reading, you may recognize longsuffering as patience, faith as faithfulness, meekness as gentleness, and temperance as self-control.

Nine beautiful qualities that describe a life influenced by the Holy Spirit.

Notice, though, that Scripture calls them fruit, not accomplishments.

Fruit doesn’t appear overnight. It grows, sometimes slowly, through seasons of sunshine and rain. There are periods of flourishing and seasons when very little seems to be happening at all.

Our spiritual lives can be much the same.

And while I’d love to tell you that after decades of following Christ I’ve got all nine neatly arranged in my spiritual fruit basket, that wouldn’t be entirely truthful.

Some days, a few of them look a little bruised.

What the Fruit of the Spirit Looks Like After 60

When we’re younger, we sometimes imagine spiritual maturity as a destination. We think that eventually we’ll reach a point where trusting God comes naturally, patience is effortless, and nothing much rattles our peace.

Then life happens.

We discover that faith doesn’t exempt us from difficult circumstances. Our bodies begin presenting challenges we never anticipated. Relationships change. People disappoint us. Plans fall apart.

And occasionally, we discover that the person testing our patience most is the one looking back at us in the mirror.

But these ordinary, sometimes uncomfortable moments are precisely where spiritual growth takes place.

Love becomes more than a warm feeling. It’s choosing compassion when someone is difficult, forgiving an old hurt, or making room in our hearts for people who see the world differently.

Joy becomes something deeper than happiness. It’s discovering that even when circumstances aren’t particularly pleasant, we can still recognize God’s goodness. Some days, joy looks like laughter around the kitchen table. Other days, it’s simply knowing we’re not facing our troubles alone.

Peace doesn’t mean everything in our lives is settled. If we’re waiting for that, we may be waiting a mighty long time. Peace is learning to trust God in the middle of uncertainty, even when we’d much rather have all the answers.

Patience may be one of the more stubborn fruits to cultivate. Whether we’re waiting for an answer to prayer, dealing with someone else’s shortcomings, or adjusting to our own limitations, patience asks us to loosen our grip on how and when things ought to happen.

Kindness often shows up in the smallest gestures. A phone call to someone who’s lonely. A thoughtful word. A little grace extended to someone having a difficult day. We don’t need unlimited energy or a large bank account to make a difference in another person’s life.

Goodness is choosing to do what’s right, even when nobody is watching or offering applause. It’s integrity in the ordinary decisions that make up our days.

Faithfulness takes on a special meaning as we grow older. We’ve lived long enough to know that prayers aren’t always answered the way we hoped. We’ve experienced losses and disappointments that tested what we believed. Yet here we are, still learning to trust the One who has carried us this far.

Gentleness is sometimes mistaken for weakness, but I’ve come to believe it takes considerable strength to respond gently when we’re hurt, frustrated, or misunderstood. There’s a difference between speaking the truth and using it as a club.

And then there’s self-control.

Knowing when to speak, when to listen, when to walk away, and when to leave that second piece of cake alone.

(I’m not making any promises about the cake.)

Some Fruit Grows Slowly

One of the things I’ve come to appreciate about growing older is that I no longer expect every lesson to be learned quickly.

There was a time when I thought that if I prayed hard enough, studied Scripture faithfully enough, and tried my very best, I would eventually overcome certain struggles once and for all.

But spiritual growth rarely follows a tidy schedule.

Sometimes God teaches us patience through a season we wish would hurry up and end. Sometimes we learn compassion because we’ve experienced suffering ourselves. Sometimes our faith grows stronger not because we received the answer we wanted, but because we learned to trust God without it.

And sometimes we find ourselves facing the same old struggle we thought we’d conquered years ago.

That doesn’t necessarily mean we’ve made no progress.

Think about a garden. You can water it, pull weeds, and tend the soil, but you can’t stand over a tomato plant and demand that it ripen by Thursday.

Believe me, if that worked, gardeners everywhere would be doing it.

Growth takes time. And much of the work happens where we can’t see it.

I think the same is true of the work God does in our hearts.

We Still Have Something to Offer

There’s another reason I believe the fruit of the Spirit matters so much in this season of life.

We live in a world that tends to measure our worth by what we accomplish. And as we grow older, especially when our health or circumstances limit what we can physically do, it’s easy to wonder whether we’re still making much of a difference.

But consider the fruit of the Spirit.

None of these qualities requires us to be young, physically strong, financially comfortable, or especially productive.

We can show love from a recliner. We can offer kindness through a telephone call. We can demonstrate faithfulness during a season when simply getting through the day takes considerable effort.

And we can share the wisdom we’ve gained with younger women who are still finding their way.

A patient listener, a faithful friend, a woman who speaks with kindness and lives with quiet integrity—these are gifts of tremendous value.

Perhaps some of our most meaningful contributions have very little to do with what we do and everything to do with who we’re becoming.

That’s worth remembering on the days when our accomplishments seem rather small.

Still Growing, Still Becoming

I don’t know about you, but I find it comforting that God doesn’t expect us to arrive at some imaginary finish line of spiritual perfection by our sixtieth birthday.

Philippians 1:6 reminds us:

“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” — Philippians 1:6 (KJV)

What a reassuring promise.

God hasn’t abandoned the work He began in us. Not because we’ve reached a certain age, not because our circumstances have changed, and certainly not because we still have a few rough edges.

He’s still working.

And perhaps one of the greatest gifts of growing older is learning to recognize that work with a little more humility and a little less impatience.

We can look back and see where we’ve grown. We can acknowledge where we still struggle. And we can extend some grace to ourselves and to the people walking alongside us.

After all, we’re all works in progress.

So the next time you find yourself falling short in the patience department, or struggling to respond with gentleness when someone has pushed your last button, don’t despair.

Take it to the Lord. Ask Him to help you grow. And remember that one difficult moment doesn’t define a lifetime of faith.

We may be seasoned, but God isn’t finished growing us yet.

And I think that’s a mighty good thing.

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A Little Something for Your Quiet Time

If you’d like to spend more time reflecting on the fruit of the Spirit, I’ve created a coordinating collection of Fruit of the Spirit Scripture Cards and Bookmarks for Seasoned Grits.

They’re simple, pretty reminders of God’s Word that you can tuck into your Bible, keep beside your favorite chair, or share with a friend who could use a little encouragement.

You can explore the collection at https://seasonedgritsco.etsy.com

Let’s Visit a While

Which fruit of the Spirit do you find yourself growing in these days? And which one still needs a little extra tending?

I suspect most of us have at least one that keeps us humble!

I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. After all, one of the nicest things about this season of life is discovering that we don’t have to figure everything out alone.