Galatians
5:22-23 (NIV)
But
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such
things there is no law.
I
would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice!
And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice
is no virtue! (Barry Goldwater, Acceptance Speech as the 1964
Republican Presidential candidate.)
In
a more modest time, a reticent single woman might meet a man's
urgings for heated sexual intercourse (then called “an illicit
affair”) with the rebuke “No way, I don't want to feel dirty in
the morning.” The “morning after” a heated controversy I often
feel this way. During a verbal battle, I often violate each and
every quality attributed to the fruit of the Spirit—the heat of
competition drives out love replacing it with the relentless urge to
dominate and vanquish; I abandon joy for intensity and russet anger,
I come to lust for combat and elbow aside peace; I dismiss
forbearance and kindness as attributes of weaklings; I toss to the
four winds any desire for goodness, lop off faithfulness with
alacrity, and deplore gentleness viewing self-control as a vice.
The
morning after I feel in great need of redemption. Easter holds out
the hope of fresh starts, restorative forgiveness, and the rebirth of
a renewed sweet spirit. It enables healing and wide expanses of
joyful abundance. Some might say that Easter has pagan beginnings
and was originally a rite of spring. For me Christ's resurrection
could occur in the dead of winter—it wouldn't matter so long as I
remember at least once a year that heavenly grace can overcome
negativity's spirals towards depression and death.
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