Tuesday 5 June 2012

The Fruit of the Spirit...

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)




Recently I have been working with the kids on learning about the Fruit of the Spirit of God. I wanted them to not just learn the names but be able to identify what these traits look like in action - in themselves and others. So, I drew up this rather simple little tree with the 'fruit' listed in the leaves. In retrospect I probably should have drawn fruit rather than leaves, but oh well!

I had the idea we could put a sticker on the 'fruit/leaf' when the kids identified that trait through our week but my clever little girl quickly cottoned on to that, loudly saying 'Look, Mummy, I'm giving Eli a toy - that's kind - can I put on a sticker?!'...about three times in thirty minutes.  Ahem... Well, I didn't want the kids 'performing' good things just for stickers, so I changed it around to identifying the fruit of the Spirit in others - so I could notice them in the kids, they in each other, the parents, etc.

It has been a lovely little project, seeing Lily exclaim 'Mummy, Eli's giving me a sweet cuddle, that's gentleness!'


The important task of choosing out a sticker is complete

For posterity I wanted to record some of the ways we have seen the Fruit of the Spirit enacted in our home in the last week or so...
love - family cuddle time!
joy - mummy feeling so happy when Lily came home from school
peace - lily and eli playing quietly together in her room
patience - the kids waiting patiently for dinner to be ready
kindness - eli giving lily the toy he knew she wanted to play with
goodness - lily obeying cheerfully when she was told it was time to tidy up
faithfulness - lily clearing her plate from the table without reminders 
gentleness - eli giving lily gentle cuddles on the couch during TV time
self-control - lily waiting in bed till the 'sun comes up' on her toddler alarm clock


Intense concentration when applying the sticker!

It has been (I hope) a good way for the kids to see their choices and behaviour in a bigger light than merely that action of the moment. Good for me too, as we work as a family to let that 'fruit' shine through our hearts and into our lives. Lily told me tonight she wants to keep the poster up 'forever and ever' which I think means for a good while yet... and so I think we will!


Yup, I put that sticker there!

4 comments:

  1. This makes me so happy to see the kids learning these truths in such a fun way! Nice work, Missy!!

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  2. What a beautiful idea, we might just do something similiar tomorrow in our house

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  3. Lovely little life lessons to learn with your little people AND with a cute chart. I love that Lily gets it too, clever little chicky!

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  4. Wow. Brilliant idea Kate. I might steal this.

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