5 1 Temperance is the fruit of choice.
The fruits are numbered twelve, and
each has a season. Temperance
is in the judgment of ripeness.
2 Would a man pluck a grape
before its season has come?
Does the juice of unripened
grapes not make bitter wine?
3 If a man were to choose joy
in the time of his long suffering,
where is the lesson of the
suffering? It does not ripen.
4 If a man rest in peace in the
season of boldness, who shall
carry the standard, and who shall
fight for the LORD?
5 To plant requires a seed, but
to yield the seed, the fruit must ripen.
If you cast the seed of unripened fruit,
then the seed shall not grow, and
therefore your labor is in vain.
6 Therefore tend to the tree of your
own garden, and the fruits that do
grow, that come the time of planting
your seed shall be strong.
7 The dandelion does not of its own
strength cast its seed into the wind.
Nor does the apple tree labor to
dig furrows for the seed of its fruit.
8 The LORD has prepared a place
for the seed, and a cycle for growth.
His wind does blow; His rain
does fall; His soil is replenished
in a way that He has commanded.
9 It is the angels of the LORD that
shall harvest. Be patient that the
fruits of your tree may fully ripen,
lest they be judged unripe, and
therefore unworthy to have their seed
planted in the garden of the king.
10 Tend unto your own gardens,
and focus on the fruit of your spirit.
Surely if you grow good fruit, the
seed shall fall, whether you will it
or not. The duty of the tree is to grow.
11 Truly I say unto you that
righteousness and salvation are
as seedtime and harvest. Do not be
mistaken; men are the trees and
not the gardener.
12 Righteousness is in the growing,
and by its nature produces seed. The
seed falls of its own nature. Salvation
is of the LORD. He alone shall pluck
the ripened fruits.
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