Fruit of the Spirit

We talk a lot about the Fruit of the Spirit. The Fruits of the Spirit are Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Gentleness, Goodness, Faithfulness, & Self-Control.  Bearing fruit is not something we pray for, but something God does through us as we walk in the Spirit or abide in Christ.

When the kids were little we used the tree to give them a visual of when we saw them walking in the Spirit, preferring one another, and choosing to live rightly. When we noticed we allowed them to put one of the plant markers in the fruit pocket. For example when one of them chose to hold the door for everyone else instead of barging into the house and letting the door slam in our face as we hauled in bags of groceries, we would let them put a plant marker in the Kindness pocket. We used this as an encouragement that God is working in and through them.  Their lives are a living testimony of God’s Kindness.