January 23rd, 2017

So there’s this really cheesy (and in all honesty quite annoying) kid’s song that starts off by stating “The Fruit of the Spirit’s not a coconut” and continues by sharing that cherries, grapes, bananas also don’t qualify. Then it quickly lists what the Fruits of the Spirits are. This song has been stuck in my head over the course of this past month for a number of reasons, one of them being that many of the middle school girls in the group that I mentor sing it often. Earlier this month, I asked them what the Fruits of the Spirit were, and they began to sing the part of the song that listed them. “Okay, great.” I said. “But what ARE they?” Confused, they began to sing the song again, although a little more hesitant this time. “Where do they come from?” I asked? They looked at me like I was crazy, so I had them take their Bibles and open up to Galatians 5.

We read through the majority of the chapter and I’m pretty sure they forgot about the original question by that point. When we got to verse 22, a synchronized “ooooooooooohhhhhh” echoed throughout the room and we had a marvelous discussion after that. We looked at the text together, made observations, and asked questions. Together the girls came to an agreement that these were things to be proactive at implementing in our daily lives. “What are ways to help practice these in our everyday lives this week?” I asked. Asides from prayer, the girls each chose a few that they wanted to intentionally practice that week.

Our next meeting took place out of the city on a hike up a mountain (this was the first time hiking for almost all of the girls). As we were walking, I asked for any examples of how they had tried practicing the Fruits of the Spirit and stories just flooded out. I was amazed and so encouraged when I heard story after story of how they were in situations at school or in their homes where they intentionally choose to practice self-control, patience, and kindness. This is a theme that we are still currently interacting with on a weekly basis; sharing ways that we are practicing the Fruits of the Spirit and ways that we see them in our group, family, and community. Praise God for this revelation in their world and the actions they are executing because of it.

CB- NYC