I read a quote from Gandhi once that said, "It's the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important." He added that it may not be in our lifetime that any fruit will come from our actions.
This is hard for me because I am goal-oriented and even more results-oriented. It's even harder to accept in the Christian life, as I want to see people come to Christ and grow in spirit and wisdom. Then I want to see them bear fruit.
But God has his own growing season and it's not on our human scale. When the numbers don't increase in our youth group, I have to rein myself in and remember to pray for spiritual growth in those who are attending.
God's ways are not my ways -- they are higher. I keep coming back to that thought and scripture in many of my readings and meditations. I guess that would be the action of the Holy Spirit working to refine me and perhaps I will show some fruit from it!
Isaiah 55:9, "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."