The Ninth Day of Christmas

9 Ladies Dancing stand for the nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit

 Wednesday after Christmas (January 2), Wednesday, was a great day! I felt good, got up early, worked on the forum, had a big breakfast and lunch. I felt very good so I did a lot… including meditation. It was also the first day that I started to exchange emails with Luciana in Rio. I met her on the Cancer Forum. Her grandmother is sick with Breast Cancer. Your emails are in Portuguese giving me an opportunity to practice writing in my "native" language.


The nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit are:

1. Love: This is the greatest of all gifts; As Paul said, "the greatest of these is Love."
2. Joy: Not just happiness, Joy has an element of satisfaction with life. Unfortunately, my depression blocks most experiences of Joy.
3. Peace: I wish I could experience Peace in my soul and mind. My soul and mind are troubled.
4. Longsuffering: Patience is also a thing that is hard to learn. We learn patience by going through suffering and who likes that?
5. Kindness: This is my greatest gift. I have a nature empathic nature… at least I try. I think most members on the Cancer Forum would agree.
6. Goodness: Hah. Goodness is not my strongest gift. But sometimes I think of goodness as doing what is right. I think every person has made bad choices. I certainly have.
7. Faithfulness: I think of this a loyalty. I try to be loyal to others but sometimes I fall short. I have disappointed so many people. But faithfulness also means personal integrity.
8. Gentleness: I think I can be very gentle. But sometimes I think gentleness is just swallowing my negative feelings. Maybe true gentleness needs assertiveness.
9. Self-control: It might sound like a contradiction, but sometimes I do loss my self-control. I eat the wrong foods; I speak when I probably should shut up; and I can have a temper.