Gal. 5:22-23     But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law.

When I was a child, my sisters and I loved creative art projects, and often we worked with our pencils and scissors late into the evening. One night our father joined our circle. He wouldn�t tell us what he was making, and we were intrigued by the white placards on which he printed words like love, goodness, patience. We were as curious as cats over his tiny ball bearings, clipped to strings of fishing line, to say nothing of his dismantled hangers, cut various lengths and straightened with his needle-nose pliers. When he started to assemble things, it was my younger sister Tresa who guessed, "A mobile!"

"Do you know what kind of mobile?" my father asked, sporting a grin uniquely his own while hanging the mobile from our ceiling light. I suddenly recognized the fruits of the Spirit! God�s gifts to us! And each night throughout the year I went to bed watching the words turn in the cold draft and dark shadows of nightfall.

Forty years have gone by, and the old mobile is long lost. But the words still come to mind - particularly when life�s colder and darker moments wash over me. When angry, or in trouble and turmoil, sometimes even unkind and spiteful, I need only to hearken back to Dad�s mobile to discover anew God�s gifts that are mine. And find all over again His love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

When I feel out of sorts and destructive, God, please help me to remember Your precious gifts, gifts that transform.
Brenda Wilbee