“The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” We are tempted to hang our heads like Longfellow and say, “There is no …”

But, like Longfellow, when we lift our heads back up, we are likely to discover “God is not dead, nor doth He sleep; The Wrong shall fail, the Right prevail, with peace on earth, good-will to men.”

It’s everywhere we turn, in the smile of a child watching a puppy scamper across a yard, in the hug of a friend in an hour of need, in the laughter of an old man with a long-lost friend, in the tears of strangers leaving a sentimental movie together, in the strains of a street musician’s lonely song, in the rustle of birds taking flight all at once, in the murmur of young lovers with their foreheads touching, and a hundred other sights and sounds every moment, every hour, every day.

This appears to be a harsh and divided world until we lift our eyes to meet our neighbors’ and see the common ground on which we stand — the hope for a better tomorrow, the willingness to live and let live, the fruit of the spirit.

This is a grand and glorious world inhabited by grand and glorious people and surrounded by so much that is grand and glorious.

Of course, many people spend their time with fingers pointed at much that is wrong with what they see, missing the many bits of evidence that The Wrong will fail and The Right prevail. It’s almost as if they have a vested interest in The Wrong. I’m not here, however, to question their motives.

I’m simply pointing out the obvious: The fruit of the spirit is in evidence everywhere we turn, if we will simply look and see.