We've almost reached the end of these reflections on the fruit of the Spirit, and I imagine

you know Paul's words by heart now.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Against such things there is no law.

Today's fruit is surely one of the most attractive.

It's maybe not the biggest or brightest looking, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's

one that the spirit especially delights to produce wouldn't be surprised if it's one that the Spirit

especially delights to produce in us, even though it's rarely mentioned in the Bible.

It's gentleness.

It's a word that's used several times by the Apostle Paul, but it's not always translated in the same

way. Sometimes it's translated as kindness.

And that's interesting, isn't it? I suppose the tradition of the translation, gentleness,

instead of kindness, is just to distinguish two qualities that really belong together.

Kind people are gentle, and gentle people are kind.

And like all the other fruit of the spirit, they belong together.

In a sense, actually, the fruit of the spirit are all one fruit.

But we need to think more about that. Forgive me if you hate

the game of golf and think it's just a good walk spoiled, but here's a golfing illustration,

although I suspect it's true of other sports as well. If you watch golf on TV, you'll hear

the commentators talking about a player having soft hands.

It means they grip the club gently, even when they grip it securely.

It's kind of counterintuitive when you begin, and it remains counterintuitive for many golfers, alas.

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