I have been singing this song to Tycen and Shaylie and teaching them about the fruit of the Holy Spirit all summer. We have talked about the trinity of God and how He fills us with the Holy Spirit when we pray and are connected with Him. We also talked about what being filled with 'fruit' of the Holy Spirit means, having a character that reflects Christ and is pleasing to God.
Tycen and Shaylie first chose a fruit to represent each of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Then they would pick which character trait they wanted to learn more about and we'd focus on that 'fruit' for several days or even a couple of weeks before moving on to a new one. I would draw the fruit that represented the trait they chose and they would color the picture while we talked about what that trait meant. It was a fun way to talk about making good choices and demonstrating the character of God in our lives.
Love:
Joy:
Peace:
Patience:
Kiddos wanted to make silly faces :)
Kindness:
Goodness:
Faithfulness:
Gentleness:
Self-control:
It was a lot of fun to talk with the kids about the fruit of the Holy Spirit and how we can pray for the character of God to fill our lives. It was so fun to see them talk about these traits with one another and hold each other accountable (and occasionally hold their mommy and daddy accountable, too :)
One of my favorite stories that stands out to me this summer is when I overheard Shaylie and Grace arguing about something while playing in Shaylie's room one day. Tycen quickly stepped up and said (in his deepest, serious voice), "Hey, guys, let's have some self-control, ok? Remember, we need to have self-control. Let's not argue. Self-control, ok?..." Oh, it made me so proud to hear him say this to the girls, especially when he didn't even know I was overhearing the conversation! ...And they listened to him, too :)
I look forward to more fun activities where I can teach the kids about God and we can hold one another accountable in our lives. I'm so proud of my little lovies and the strong, kind and loving people they are growing into!
