my careless contagion

The fruit of the spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23 are listed above. Grammatically, they are listed in the verses as one entity, but they are nine distinct properties. Rarely does one person exhibit all these fruits of the Holy Spirit. Or they do so only for a time. The fruit of the spirit is born out of labor. It isn't free. It doesn't just happen. We have to work to bring it forth, just as we have to tend to our trees and plants to make them produce. Much labor brings forth fruit.  The woman I was in love with consistently exhibited many of these characteristics through the years. As long as I knew her, she was like that. Not only did she exemplify the virtuous woman in Proverbs, but she also exhibited many of the fruits listed in Galatians 5:22-23. This further reinforces what I feel about her being a treasure for any man. It certainly makes her a wonderful role model for her children and ex-husband, as well as many others.  Of course, I know no one is perfect. But you'...

161 miles. That was my total for the year. When I was struggling to deal with my life at the beginning of 2018, I decided I wanted to keep track of something positive during the year. So, I decided to keep track of the miles I ran. I started out really strong in January, which is amazing because I'm sure the weather was crap. I ran 23 miles that month. The first half of the year was also strong, but with the sale of my house and with a 13-credit-hour load at school, I wasn't able to keep up that pace. Finally, in December, I finished with only two miles for a total of 161 for the year. That's not phenomenal, but it makes me realize that positive change is incremental. It makes me realize that a mile or two here really adds up. I didn't add in all the miles hiking, and I'm sure I forgot to write down a few miles, so the actual expenditure of energy is much higher than the 161 miles. I also realized I hate running long distances, so those two-, three-, and four...