On my mind
A couple of weeks ago Sara shared with us at church about the fruit of the spirit. It was an awesome time of reflection as we thought about the fruit that is to be the evidence of the spirit of Christ in us. We had some arts and crafts time as we were to draw our favorite fruit(with crayon of course)on a piece of paper and then share which area we desired to see the spirit show himself more fully. It was powerful and has stuck with me as I continue to see this crayon sketch of a banana in my bible...I mean come on...it IS pretty much the perfect fruit...duh...
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other."
In our discussion we talked about how all of these are interconnected and not separable as it is singular "fruit is" not "fruits are", but there are times that we seem to struggle in one area more than another. We decided there was no use in "trying" to concentrate and "work really hard" to grow in one area of this fruit...but rather to rest in the Spirit..."keeping in step with the Spirit" as we allow the Spirit already inside us to reveal himself more fully as he expresses his fruit through our lives. Paul says, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me." I'm not really sure why we've convinced ourselves that the harder we work the better we'll be at producing fruit that only the Spirit can produce. The more we surrender and abide...laying down our own rights, as we "keep in step with the Spirit" we will begin to see fruit produced that is impossible for us to produce.
I haven't been able to escape this passage and in fact have read Galatians the last couple of mornings. It really encapsulates the exchange life and has taken on all new meaning for me in the past few years.
This past Saturday night we did a Movie night outside at the barn and invited our friends and neighbors...it was over the top. Danielle's brother has a projector that we borrowed and of course I have the sound system so with popcorn and chips at the ready and a fire for s'mores we watched one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. I put our mains in the front and a couple of our monitors at the rear...it sounded like we were in a freakin' theater...only outside...very cool.
We hope to do another one in a month or two as it will get dark a little earlier. Maybe grill out and have a cornhole tournament in the evening leading up to the movie. If you're in the area you'll have to stop in...stay tuned...
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other."
In our discussion we talked about how all of these are interconnected and not separable as it is singular "fruit is" not "fruits are", but there are times that we seem to struggle in one area more than another. We decided there was no use in "trying" to concentrate and "work really hard" to grow in one area of this fruit...but rather to rest in the Spirit..."keeping in step with the Spirit" as we allow the Spirit already inside us to reveal himself more fully as he expresses his fruit through our lives. Paul says, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me." I'm not really sure why we've convinced ourselves that the harder we work the better we'll be at producing fruit that only the Spirit can produce. The more we surrender and abide...laying down our own rights, as we "keep in step with the Spirit" we will begin to see fruit produced that is impossible for us to produce.
I haven't been able to escape this passage and in fact have read Galatians the last couple of mornings. It really encapsulates the exchange life and has taken on all new meaning for me in the past few years.
This past Saturday night we did a Movie night outside at the barn and invited our friends and neighbors...it was over the top. Danielle's brother has a projector that we borrowed and of course I have the sound system so with popcorn and chips at the ready and a fire for s'mores we watched one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. I put our mains in the front and a couple of our monitors at the rear...it sounded like we were in a freakin' theater...only outside...very cool.
We hope to do another one in a month or two as it will get dark a little earlier. Maybe grill out and have a cornhole tournament in the evening leading up to the movie. If you're in the area you'll have to stop in...stay tuned...
