The Fruits of the Spirit
Every Tuesday, an AMAZING group of volunteers lead and teach devotions to all LHCC kids before tutoring starts. This sets the tone for the evening and plants the seeds of Jesus and The Gospel in the hearts of our children. The volunteers that plan these lessons and lead the teachings are truly a blessing. The kids are split up into smaller groups based on their age, the lessons are 30 minutes long and always incredibly engaging with interactive activities and discussion.
This 2023-2024 school year has focused on the “Fruits of the Spirit.” The "Fruits of the Spirit" refers to a list of virtues and character traits outlined in the book of Galatians 5:22-23. The Apostle Paul writes about these qualities as attributes that should be evident in the lives of Christians, produced by the Holy Spirit within believers. The Fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The kids spend around 4 weeks on each fruit and how they can put it into practice in their daily lives.
One of the lead women of devotions, Nena, has brought in a fruit tree as a symbol to go along with these lessons. This is what she said on why she brought this in. “Fruit trees producing fruit (photosynthesis) helps us understand God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit so we can produce the fruit of the Spirit. Fruit trees drink in water in their roots like we believe in God and drink in His love. With water the fruit trees get enough nourishment to grow branches and leaves. They lift their branches and leaves to the sun for light energy. When we drink in God’s love we are able to reach out and accept His gift of Jesus, the light of the world. With light energy and water, the fruit trees can grow flowers but need to be pollinated to make fruit. The wind, bees, butterflies, etc. bring pollen to the flowers and the flowers turn into fruit. With God’s love and accepting Jesus as our Savior we blossom and then receive our pollination, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit (God living in us) produces the fruit of the Spirit.” Just, WOW. Our kids hearing this message each week is truly life changing for them.
This past week, they did their culminating activity on kindness. To practice showing kindness to their tutors, each kid wrote a special thank you note and presented it to their volunteer with an apple. This was a beautiful act to see play out and the volunteers were so grateful. The kids also shared how they have shown kindness at home or at school. Here is what a couple of kids had to say. Sara said that she wanted some cookies but her sister was still working on her school work. Sara decided to help her sister with her school work so they could have cookies together. Miguel said he shared his phone with games with a friend that had an iPad, but no fun games. You could tell this was a sacrifice for Michael because he loved the games. He was so happy that he had done this. Several children talked about helping their teachers at school and helping their moms with the dishes at home.
One of the other leaders, Cindy, said this, “I like the “aha moments” as you watch their little brains processing the information on the situation cards provided in the study. Identifying some thoughts and ways we react to a lot of situations without even thinking about it AND then the switch happens where they are now looking at it from a biblical point of view and see all new options to glorify God as they exhibit His fruit.”
We are excited to see how the kids can put The Fruits of the Spirit into practice and live out Christ-like lives. THANK YOU to our amazing volunteers that lead this each week. LHCC could not do this without you all.
