Friday Five: Bursting with Fruit Flavor

Well, those of us in the United States are on high alert for air travel. Thank heaven, it appears that a huge disaster has been averted. Meanwhile, dreadful conflicts continue in the Middle East and around the world. We here at RGBP certainly hope and pray for safety, peace and fullness of life for all the peoples of the world.

Galatians 5 describes the fruit of the Spirit. With all the sadness and despair out there, we certainly need it! So, the Friday Five is simple. Pick any five of the following attributes and go wherever the Spirit leads you... your choice! Suggestions: When have you experienced this attribute? When have you struggled with it? Or who embodies it for you?

Or if you're feeling light-hearted--just assign a fruit to each one. I think Generosity is a Banana, don't you?

Love
Joy
Peace
Patience
Kindness
Generosity
Faithfulness
Gentleness
Self-control


I'd like to tell a tale of God-inspired generosity and kindness in what I would definitely term a God-incidence.

I've been struggling with an eye infection pretty much constantly since May. I saw my doctor; he thought it was allergies and gave me some allergy drops. More than two months later it was just as bad, if not worse. On Sunday (he's senior warden at our church), he said, you need to see an eye doctor and recommended Dr. Joann Webster.
So, first thing on Monday morning, I called her office. But, both numbers directed me to an 800 number for customer service. I called that number and got something totally unrelated to eye care. I then called my husband and explained my predicament. He drove over to her office and discovered Dr. Webster was about to go on vacation and had no openings for more than three weeks!

He asked for a referral and a quick discussion brought the solution - an appointment, so to speak, if I was willing to wait for her until after she was done with surgery the following day and before she started seeing scheduled patients.
We agreed.

The eye exam turned up the diagnosis of uveitis, a chronic eye infection that won't go away without treatment and that could, eventually, lead to blindness. Dr. Webster then gave me samples of all the drops I needed with the explanation that she didn't want to prescribe the expensive drops until she knew they were working. Then, she scheduled to see me during her lunch hour two weeks later as there were no openings for three weeks.

Talk about kindness and generosity! Wow! And that appointment would have never been made if I had called. It seems God arranged for Frank to be there because people respond better to things person-to-person.

And now that another deadline is finally over, a moment of light-heartedness: I see a watermelon for joy. The picture is of my daughter, Griffin, and myself joyfully eating water on the Fourth of July (see from Turtle Walks to Fireworks).