This is one of mine... as Songbird wings her way to the UK, sans carry-on luggage.

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Well, those of us in the United States are on high alert for air travel. Thank heaven, it appears that a huge disaster has been averted. Meanwhile, dreadful conflicts continue in the Middle East and around the world. We here at RGBP certainly hope and pray for safety, peace and fullness of life for all the peoples of the world.

Galatians 5 describes the fruit of the Spirit. With all the sadness and despair out there, we certainly need it! So, the Friday Five is simple. Pick any five of the following attributes and go wherever the Spirit leads you... your choice! Suggestions: When have you experienced this attribute? When have you struggled with it? Or who embodies it for you?

Or if you're feeling light-hearted--just assign a fruit to each one. I think Generosity is a Banana, don't you?

Love
Joy
Peace
Patience
Kindness
Generosity
Faithfulness
Gentleness
Self-control

You'd think if I'd written the F5 I would have given more thought to my answers *beforehand*... this one's harder than I'd intended. Alas. Here they are.

Joy -- My spiritual director while in seminary was named Joy. I would visit her gorgeous house overlooking a river and we would sit on her screen porch and contemplate life. Once, during a low point in my life, she gave me a little stuffed dog, just for fun. Later a seminary classmate was visiting me and she was taken with the dog. I told her my spiritual director had given it to me and said, "Why don't you give her a name." She responded, "Joy."


Patience -- I think patience is a pear. The ones we buy in the store are always quite unripe. We didn't know until fairly recently that you could ripen them in a paper bag. We'd bring them home and try to eat them right away and think, "Dang, why can't we get good pears here?" If you're willing to be patient and let them languish on the counter for a few days--heaven.


Kindness -- C is really into Cinderella at the moment--the Disney version. Sigh. I'm not thrilled about the gender stereotypes reinforced in these and other Disney princess stories.

I'll wait a moment for some of you to roll your eyes.

Now that you're done, let me say that I'm not overly worried about my daughter becoming a beauty-obsessed doormat, because she has many other influences in her life to mitigate the princess thing. Still, it just grates.

Recently we were playing Cinderella and I was playing the prince and after she fled the ball I said, "Oh no, I'll never see her again, and she was so smart and charming and funny..."

C whirled around and said, "Mommy! Princesses AREN'T FUNNY!"

Anyway, the Disney Cinderella does have one thing going for her. She is a genuinely kind person, and I think kindness is one of the more scarce virtues in our world today.


Gentleness -- I wrote this when C was about 13 months old:

Our girl loves to pound on the cat. She also enjoys pinching his ears and pressing her face into his back. I don't know what's behind that last one. Fat Kitty will let her abuse him most of the time--out of the goodness of his heart, or perhaps he's just too lazy to extricate himself from the situation.

We've been teaching her the word "gentle." When she starts pounding on the poor guy we'll say, "Gentle," while we stroke him lightly on the back. She will usually imitate us.

Recently while I was playing with her she started pounding me just like she does with Fat Cat. When I said, "Gentle," she looked right over at him. So I think she's decided his name is Gentle. It's not a bad way to get through life, really. What if we decided to call everyone Gentle and to give them soft pats rather than harsh blows?


Self-control -- Self-control lands like a thud at the end of this whispery list. All these "-ness" words, then self-control, all clipped and Germanic. Maybe it's not good poetry. But maybe it is--self-control calls us back from the daze we've been lulled into and demands that we go back over the list and listen, really listen, to the words.