Having spent time around "sinners" and also around purported saints, I have a hunch why Jesus spent so much time with the former group: I think he preferred their company. Because the sinners were honest about themselves and had no pretense, Jesus could deal with them. In contrast, the saints put on airs, judged him, and sought to catch him in a moral trap. In the end it was the saints, not the sinners, who arrested Jesus.

And perhaps, exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit may be our very best defense against a materialist view of mankind here on earth.

Someone asked the Swiss physician & author Paul Tournier how he helped his patients get rid of their fears. He replied, 'I don't. Everything that's worthwhile in life is scary. Choosing a school, choosing a career, getting married, having kids--all those things are scary. If it is not fearful, it is not worthwhile.'

Be still. In that focus, all else comes into focus. In that rift in my routine, the universe falls into alignment.

When suffering happens, it forces us to confront life in a different way than we normally do.

The proof of spiritual maturity is not how pure you are but awareness of your impurity. That very awareness opens the door to grace.

We grow up hungry for love, and in ways so deep as to remain unexpressed we long for our Maker to love us.