Fruits of the Spirit

Some of you are aware that I have been on somewhat of a hiatus from organized religion of late; sorry to say that I'm not over it yet. However, that does not mean that I am without some deep-seated religious convictions by which I try to live and love in this life. I've been thinking lately about the fruits of the spirit, the seven deadly sins, the seven holy virtues, and about something that I call the seeds of evil. I have long believed that if we could muster the strength to live by the fruits of the spirit and, to put the same concepts in other words, the seven holy virtues, we would clearly be avoiding the seven deadly sins and the "seeds of evil."

If we strive to practice, in all the moments of our lives: love, joy, peace, longsuffering (patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, and humility, then surely there won't be any room at all for lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and the deadliest of the seven deadly sins, PRIDE. By extension, I think there wouldn't be room in our lives for the "seeds of evil" (my term, as far as I know). I'm thinking here of bitterness, vengeance, hatred, judgmentalism, criticism, jealousy, etc. To borrow from Oprah Winfrey, "This much I know for sure..." that these sins and seeds of evil are completely and utterly SELF-destructive.

I have often said that if we could just keep in mind that most people are doing the very best they can with whatever resources they have (intelligence, education, money, time, support, physical and emotional strength, etc.) most of the time, then our compassion for the way others live their lives and make their decisions and choices would increase exponentially. Furthermore, our pride, arrogance, anger, bitterness, judgmentalism, impatience, hatred, vengefulness would not be able to take root in our hearts and souls. If we deprive these seeds of evil of the nourishment of our negative, hurtful, toxic thoughts and feelings, they won't be able to sprout into out-of-control weeds...weeds that will choke our strength and indeed leave us bereft of our souls and our ability to do good in the world.

Surely, instead, we will thrive as loving, Christian souls if we nourish with our thoughts and feelings only the seeds of lovingkindness, compassion, patience and humility. Then we can move through the peaks and valleys of life with strength and joy. I think that's what God really wants for and expects of us.