What are little boys made of:
They are made of frogs and snails and puppy dog tails,
What are little girls made of:
They are made of sugar and spice and everything nice.

But what makes a saint?
They are made of very real stuff; costly stuff, the stuff of conflict and struggle. They are made of failure and defeat. They are made of repentance and renewal. I once asked a Junior High Class in Sunday School what made a saint. After quite a bit of time in silence and seemingly looks of question, one particularly quarrelsome young man exclaimed, “A saint is a dead Christian.”
God’s saints are men and women seasoned by many of life’s deepest and most tragic human experiences. Saintliness comes from hard times. Saintliness comes from fires of life. When you around one of these special people you can almost smell the smoke on their clothes. They most often focus not on doing things right, but more on doing the right thing.
They have within them a fire that burns as much as a candle burns and puts out a special glowing fire. The brightness of thier lives determine the length of the candle. Their real character is not determined by reputation. Their real character is not determined by their professions. A saint’s character is determined by the Spirit of Christ that dwells and shines through them.
I have met a few saints and none of them would like the title.