I do not remember many of the lessons I was taught in Sunday School when I was growing up. Sometimes when I am talking with a Sunday School teacher, and they are worried about how much of their lesson will “stick,” I tell them that it is less important that they remember your lesson than it is that your lesson becomes part of the fabric of their lives. I would like to think that my Sunday School teachers contributed significantly to the fabric of my faith, but most lessons are lost in the sands of time.
One of the lessons that I do remember is one on the “Fruit of the Spirit” from Galatians 5. We had various cardboard cutouts of fruit, and they were assorted colors. We had to pick nine pieces of fruit shaped paper and print the name of a fruit of the spirit on each of them. I wish I could tell you that it was the Holy Spirit that made me remember that lesson, but mostly I was excited the teacher let us use colored markers that smelled like…fruit.
I remember completing the assignment and wondering where I was going to put all these fruit things. It was too much to go on the refrigerator. On a wall? I was fairly sure Mom would not be a fan of that. There were so many fruit papers!
These words roll off our tongue… love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There are so many! They sound good. But how often do we use this list to measure how the Holy Spirit is showing up in our lives? How often do we reflect on harvesting this fruit and consciously giving thanks to God for them?
I have a challenge for you over the next week or two. Take a fruit of the Spirit each day and give real reflection about it for the entire day. Take “kindness” for instance. When you go through your day, look for times when other people are kind and what opportunities are presented for you to be kind as well. Were all those times easy? If they were difficult, can you name why they were difficult? Why is kindness considered a fruit of the spirit? What about kindness is a mark of how the Spirit calls us to lead our lives?
If you are someone who journals, it might be fruitful (ha-ha) to write your reflections in your journal. If you are not a person who journals, consider how you might remember your reflections about the fruit of the Spirit.
If you have reflections that you would like to share with me or Karen, we will welcome that! If you have reflections you would like to share with your Sunday School class, your house church, or any gathering, I encourage you to do that, too! I hope this exercise brings a heightened awareness of not only the ways the fruit of the Spirit are in your life, but also, I hope that it heightens your awareness of how God is working in the world around us all. I think we could all use that! So, I guess if my childhood Sunday School lesson helped you today, maybe it was the Holy Spirit’s work after all.
Grace and Peace,
Rob
