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By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
(Galatians 5:22)
I have always loved this particular scripture, as it reminds me to live more in the Spirit and less in the culture—and therefore challenges me to live in the reality of God’s grace. And don’t we need more of that? Over the past 10 years, give or take, the culture has coarsened, and people seem to feel free to do and say things that would have been unthinkable a decade ago. And so we’ve fallen into the habit of expecting the worst of people, instead of the best—and that is no way to live at all. Especially in the church! So I will give both myself and you a challenge: the next time something irks us, the next time we feel impatient, snarky, or less than kind, let’s stop for a moment and say a very short prayer: “Help.” Then we can breathe in the Spirit, and hopefully breathe out into a space wrapped in a bit of grace. Breathe in, breathe out. Isn’t it worth a try? I’ll give it a shot if you will! And feel free to let me know how it goes.
Faithfully yours,
Mimi+
PS: I will be out of town November 12-19 visiting our children and grandchildren in Seattle and Minneapolis. The Rev. Carleton Bakkum will join us for all worship services this coming Sunday. The Rev. Marie Kirk-Clunan will cover any emergencies and can be reached at 757-955-7759. Many, many thanks to both Carleton and Marie for their ministry!
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