Fruit is always the miraculous, the created; it is never the result of willing, but always a growth. The fruit of the Spirit is a gift of God, and only He can produce it. They who bear it know as little about it as the tree knows of its fruit. They know only the power of Him on whom their life depends
Dietrich BonhoefferEvery word of Holy Scripture was a love letter from God directed very personally to us and he asked us whether we loved Jesus.
Dietrich BonhoefferTime is lost when we have not lived a full human life, time unenriched by experience, creative endeavor, enjoyment, and suffering.
Dietrich BonhoefferJust as God's love entered the world, thereby submitting to the misunderstanding and ambiguity that characterize everything worldly, so also Christian love does not exist anywhere but in the worldly, in an infinite variety of concrete worldly action, and subject to misunderstanding and condemnation. Every attempt to portray a Christianity of 'pure' love purged of worldly 'impurities' is a false purism and perfectionism that scorns God's becoming human and falls prey to the fate of all ideologies. God was not too pure to enter the world.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer