Per Ipsum

  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,   gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23 Patience! So many opportunities to practice it! Modern life is hurried and frenzied, and we are surrounded with the opposite. The kind of patience that its the fruit of the Spirit, however, wells up at key times. The fruit of patience pays huge  dividends in relationships too. Small children with learn slowly. Husbands who can't seem to handle emotions clearly. Co-workers who ignore our  requests. Family members who just don't see things my way. Patience buys me room for healing, bonding, communicating—whatever it takes to love them as we are commanded. Easy? No. Source of grace? You bet. Do I do it well? Ah.... There are other impacts of spiritual patience. Waiting in traffic or in line become opportunities for prayer and praise. A deeper more profound aspect of patience ...

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,   gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23 Today  is Ascension Thursday.  The first, original, most meaningful novena of them all commences. It seems expedient for me to complete this series over the next nine days.  As I write about peace my city had more shootings overnight. They come daily now. Jerusalem is burning, Gaza is being flattened, and civil war has erupted in some Israeli towns. Afghanistan has erupted as troops withdraw, the latest atrocity, the bombing of a girls' school with many deaths, hints at what may come. Cyber attacks on various power grids feel like the opening shots in a new form of warfare. Political polarization, anger, and yes, hatred continues to seethe. Attacks on Asian Americans are climbing, anti-semitism rises, and bigotry, the legacy of slavery, continues to manifest itself in violence and echoing hatre...