The Nine Fruits of a Good Life

📝Reflection

Paul draws the marks of a good life as nine fruits. What is interesting is that he calls them "fruit." Fruit is not forced into being; it forms on its own from a well-grown tree. Love and self-control cannot be squeezed out by resolve alone; when the inside ripens, they seep out naturally. These nine are not the commandments of any religion but the fragrance of a mature person. For a long time I tried to keep virtues like duties, but they came, like fruit, only when I tended the field of the heart. What you become comes before what you do.