Forbearance – Fruit of the Spirit – Galatians 5:22-23

Ask my older grandchildren, “What’s Grandma’s favorite word?” and hopefully they still remember that it is “Patience!”.  Waiting for stuff when you’re a little kid is HARD work!  Waiting for stuff as a big kid is also HARD work!  How difficult is it to wait for healing when we are ill? How tough is it to suffer through a challenging workday or persist at an unfulfilling job?

Not getting angry when things don’t go our way is also HARD!  Flying off the handle when we are misunderstood or cut-off in traffic or rudely treated by someone is EASY – but it is not Patience!  Patience is HARD!  So how do we live in patience? with the help of the Holy Spirit, of course! 

The benefits of living by the Spirit is found in Galatians 5:22-25 - 22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

We hear a lot about the first three – Love, Joy and Peace – especially during the pre-Christmas season called Advent and also throughout the year.  But what is this word – “forbearance”?  Nobody speaks like that anymore, do they?  So – being the word-geek that I am – I looked it up on Biblehub.com.  Here are all the synonyms for the word “forbearance”:

patience, endurance, constancy, steadfastness, perseverance, especially as shown in bearing troubles and ills, a willingness to stick with things; and also: long-suffering, fairness, considerateness, gentleness, slowness in avenging wrongs; waiting a sufficient time before expressing anger (count to 10); embracing steadfastness and staying-power, resisting retribution.

The Greek word for forbearance found in this passage (Gal 5:22) is makrothymia – makro – “long” and thymos – “passion”.  Strongs 3115

Now we know what it means, let’s see if we can determine HOW to have Forbearance!  

First, let’s look at the first set of synonyms – patience, endurance, constancy, steadfastness and perseverance.  What image comes to mind? Perhaps a favorite scripture passage?

Heb 12:1, … And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,… NIV

            or … and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, NLT

Jam 5:10 - 10Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

James 1:2-4 – 2Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

         4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. NIV

or And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. ESV

or But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. NKJV

{I absolutely love biblehub.com because you can type in any keyword search or specific verse and get great results.  Also, it has a feature for “Parallel” where you can line up different translations side by side, verse by verse.  And – my favorite feature – you can choose to go to the Greek translations or the Strongs concordance, which is loaded with great information and so many references your head might spin a bit.  But it’s a great way to really dig in to the Word, to look at different English translations to find words that you can understand, that have meaning in today’s language.  Did you know that there is a direct link to biblehub from the Gruene UMC app?  We always hear about “pushpay” in the app, but there are actually 4 functions included in the app – Contact us (for prayer requests and general questions); Pushpay to donate; Bible to follow along with the service or do additional study on your own and a link to the Facebook page profile.}

Thank you for your forbearance while I digressed down the technology rabbit hole.  😊

The first set of synonyms seem to relate to waiting, or enduring something that is taking a very long time. We are encouraged to lean upon the strength and wisdom of the Spirit that all things will come to fruition in Gods time. 

The second set of synonyms - long-suffering, fairness, considerateness, gentleness, self-restraint – seem to relate to a calmer sense of being.  When I first read these words, I thought of “count to 10”, as is suggested when dealing with a petulant toddler or an aggressive driver.  A statement I found on Biblehub - If in English we had an adjective 'long-tempered' as a counterpart to 'short-tempered,' then makrothymia could be called the quality of being 'long-tempered'.  Wouldn’t that be great?  Instead of flying off the handle or having a knee-jerk reaction to any perceived offense, we could be long-tempered, or slow to anger?  I remember this liturgy from my childhood: “Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”  from Psalm 86:15. This is the image of God I grew up with.  If we are to be mirrored in His image, isn’t this the perfect phrase to practice ourselves in our daily interactions?

Lastly, let’s look at the rest of the Galatians Passage: 

22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control.

Kindness… Goodness… Faithfulness… Gentleness… and Self-control

Doesn’t seem like these words are almost all synonyms for each other?  Hopefully, we learned that Forbearance is maintaining Faithfulness in suffering and treating others with kindness, goodness, gentleness and using self-control to manage our temper and negativity? 

Okay….  we’ve had a great language lesson and explored some definitions and terms of what the words in Galatians mean, but HOW do we do it?  How do we maintain Faithfulness in adversity? Maintain Gentleness in times of conflict? How do we maintain Self-control when we’re under great stress? 

We pray, we speak to our Lord, our Savior, and study His Words of Holy Scripture.  We seek the Holy Spirit by learning what the words mean, by putting into practice what we learn from those meanings, and we share the Gospel with everyone we know and meet. – God is Love, and we honor him by sharing that Love!  The first three “fruits” point to the solution – Love, Joy and Peace.  I will close with two more scripture passages and pray that these passages may bring Peace, Joy and Love to your life and world. 

1 Cor 13:4-7 - 4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Phil 4:4-9: 4Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the Peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

#bylauramcfall #ministrymessage

Batik Sewing Machine Cover

Today I was finally able to stitch up a new dust cover for my sewing machine.  I had purchased five fat quarters (FQs) and a roll of 40 2 1/2" strips all in batiks last week.  The FQs were for a specific project, but I didn't need very much and the roll was just pretty and a very good price.  So, I set about to use up the leftover FQs and some of the batik strips to make a quilt as you go (QAYG) dust cover.  

First step was to "drape" the machine with a piece of batting to determine the size and design.  On the right end I decided to put a seam and box the top corner.  On the left end, I decided to add in a separate piece and leave the front and back bottom edges loose so the cover will fit regardless of which attachment I have on my machine - regular sewing bed, extended flatbed table or embroidery unit.  The following photos and text are the steps that describe how I went about making it.

Measure the distance up and over the machine, the width of the front, the distance from the top of the left end to the flatbed, and also the depth of the end.

Using these measurements, I determined that I needed a large flat piece measuring 31"x 33".  A whole piece of cloth may be used, or pieced together leftovers.  This is the inside of the cover, or the lining, so it doesn't need to be fancy.  I used the leftovers from the fat quarters and stitched them together. I placed the backing wrong side up on the table and pin basted the batting to it.

Place the first strip right side up from one corner diagonally across the batting & backing.  Hold it in place with pins and then choose another strip to add.  Stitch the strips right sides together through all layers with a 1/4" seam on one side.  Carefully press the strip open, removing any safety pins that get in the way of the stitching.  Choose another strip and add it right sides together to the opposite side of the first strip, stitching through all the layers.  Continue to add strips, pressing between each add, to either side of the first center strip. 

 Trim the excess strip ends even with the edges of the batting.

Use the trimmed end pieces to finish out the corners.  Press very well and then trim all of the edges to neaten edges and square up the corners.

Put the piece over the machine, pin up the right seam and check the piece for the left end for proper length and size.  Cut a piece of batting to the size of the end piece and then add strips in the same manner as before.  I put the end strips horizontally instead of on an angle. 

After all the strips are stitched, turn the bottom strip to the wrong side and stitch down.  Trim the top corners to a slight curve.  Very carefully stitch the piece into the end, matching centers and easing around the corners. Stitch the other end with a 1/2" seam and then box the top corner.  Zig-zag raw edges to prevent fraying and wear. 

Sometimes the sewing stars align and you get great matched seams without even trying!!

Stitch two strips together to form a binding for the lower edge.  I was able to continue the binding up to enclose the seams on the left end piece.  I machine topstitched the binding in place and TA-Done!!  A new sewing machine dust cover all quilted and bound in just a few easy steps!  

I hope you enjoyed this overview of how I made a QAYG dust cover for my machine.  It was a fairly basic project and took me about 3 hours to put together.  And - because I used up the rest of the FQ bundle and about half of the strips - I have avoided adding a UFO and only lightly supplemented my "stash".  There are enough strips left to make a new mat for under the machine and other accessories to go in my sewing area.

#bylauramcfall

#rvquilting