A Heart Of Grace

The greatness of a community is most accurately measured

by the compassionate actions of its members,

a heart of grace, and a soul generated by love.

-- Coretta Scott King

The Fruit of the Spirit

How does the Spirit of God manifest itself through us?
Often we think that to witness means to speak up in defense of God.
This idea can make us very self-conscious.
We wonder where and how we can make God the topic of our conversations and how to convince our families, friends, neighbors, and colleagues of God's presence in their lives.
But this explicit missionary endeavour often comes from an insecure heart and, therefore, easily creates divisions.

The way God's Spirit manifests itself most convincingly is through its fruits: "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control" (Galatians 5:22).
These fruits speak for themselves.
It is therefore always better to raise the question "How can I grow in the Spirit?" than the question "How can I make others believe in the Spirit?"
--Henri Nouwen

Choosing Love

How can someone ever trust in the existence of an unconditional divine love when most, if not all, of what he or she has experienced is the opposite of love - fear, hatred, violence, and abuse?

They are not condemned to be victims!
There remains within them, hidden as it may seem, the possibility to choose love.
Many people who have suffered the most horrendous rejections and been subject to the most cruel torture are able to choose love.
By choosing love they become witnesses not only to enormous human resiliency but also to the divine love that transcends all human loves.
Those who choose, even on a small scale, to love in the midst of hatred and fear are the people who offer true hope to our world.
-- Henri Nouwen