This month we're focusing on the fruits of the spirit and so far so good.  The first thing I did was put the words where my kids and I could see them every day all day long.  This way when we eat our meals, we can have the signs to look at and remember to talk about them.

The verse is in the middle and then all the words are listed around the verse taped to the window.  This is so good and even Story who can't read will look up there and try to tell me all of them.  I'm hoping that just this one simple act will put these on their hearts forever.

More than my kids being able to list all the fruits of the Spirits off to me or anyone else for that matter, I want these words to mean something to them.  I want them to know that these words are ways that we can truly show those around us the love of Jesus.  That love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are things that we can ask God to develop in us.  I'm talking to my kids about how I need to have self-control sometimes and how I'm asking God to develop a more patient heart in me.

When I knew I was gonna be talking about this with the kids I found this book on Amazon and ordered it to help me with ideas.  It's called KIDS TRAVEL GUIDE TO THE FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT, and it even has handouts, which makes this ex-teacher super happy!  It has worked pretty good even though I feel like it's a bit old for them, but we're adjusting it and going with it.  The other night we did fruit of the Spirit kabob's and the kids seemed to enjoy it.  Story didn't make the fun activity since she was in bed early!

It was fun.  Each fruit represented one of the fruits of the spirit and we talked about each one as we put them on our sticks.  I have no idea if they listened or got anything from our talk, but it was a tangible way for them to talk about each different attribute.

I thought it was fun and it was a great way to eat lots of fruit too!

 
I went to bed that night wondering if they had heard anything I had said.  We had sword fights with our sticks, someone got sick in the middle of it, a fight broke out over the last orange slice, you know all the normal boy stuff, but I'm praying that the holy spirit embeds these truths on their hearts, way more than my voice ever could.