...Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness. Gentleness and Self-Control... these are the fruit of the Spirit. These are the fruit of the Spirit!

Insert little music notes here... because as I was typing the verse that my wonderful sister in Christ, Kris, chose for this week, Gal. 5:22-23a I was singing it. When my kids were little I used to memorize scripture with them set to music. It was a very effective way to not only memorize but retain scripture. They did this when they participated in AWANAS and Pathseekers, two great programs to help kids grow spiritually. This one was especially effective because all I have to do is start humming the melody and my kids will sing the scripture.

When working on this week's challenge, the question that came up is- What is fruit? I don't have a lot of traditional fruit images. I looked up the definition of fruit and found that it means the part of a tree or plant that can be eaten that has seeds.

When my kids were little, they loved taking the seeds from their apples and trying to plant them. We never were successful in growing an apple tree that could produce more apples, despite our trying. But that is the purpose of the seeds, to be planted to produce new fruit. How could this apply to this week's scripture?
The Holy Spirit produces Love in our lives... we need to plant those seeds of love in the life of someone who may not feel loved.
The Holy Spirit produces Joy in our lives... we need to plant those seeds of joy in the life of someone who is overwhelmed by sadness.
The Holy Spirit produces Peace in our lives... we need to plant those seeds of peace in the lives of people who are stressed and troubled.
The Holy Spirit produces Patience in our lives... we need to plant those seeds of patience in the lives of people who want what the want and the want it NOW.
The Holy Spirit produces Kindness in our lives... we need to plant those seeds of kindness in the lives of those who need to hear a kind word or need to see what kindness looks like because all they have known is abuse.
The Holy Spirit produces Goodness in our lives... we need to plant the seeds of goodness in a world that glorifies sinful living.
The Holy Spirit produces Faithfulness in our lives... we need to plant seeds of faithfulness to people who have been let down by the people they trusted, who were unfaithful to them.
The Holy Spirit produces Gentleness in our lives... we need to plant seeds of gentleness in the lives of people who have only known how hard this sinful world can be.
The Holy Spirit produces Self-control in our lives... we need to plant the seeds of self-control in the lives of those who have been told by society... do what you want... when you want... it is your life.

Dear God, thank you for the fruits of your holy spirit that you are bringing to harvest in my life. I pray that you will increase your harvest by helping me be aware of the opportunities to share the seeds of your fruits in the lives of those I come in contact with. In Jesus name, amen!

Here is Kris' challenge for this week.you...
Include FRUIT in your creation (stamp, digi, paper, charms, etc.). *By definition, a pumpkin is a fruit, and so are other “Harvest” produce such as gourds :)

The pumpkins on my card are stamped several times and layered with craft foam for dimension. This card was inspired by my stampin' sister in Christ, Traci. She sent me a card with embossed dp. It was gorgeous. I never would have thought to emboss dp before that.

This video has some jazz music as it shares some scripture and ideas on the fruit of the Spirit! I enjoyed it and thought you might too.

The sponsor for this week is: Clear Dollar Stamps.

Check out what my Stampin' Sisters in Christ have created...

Kris Linda Miesje Pegggysue Rebekka Traci Grace