Fruit of the Spirit: Banana Joy!

photo by red5standingby

We’re onto a new Fruit of the Spirit this week! Oh, is it Thursday already? Oh my.

As I was trying to figure out which fruit to conquer next, I started wishing I had planned out exactly which fruit went with with fruit. You know, kinda match them up with alliteration or function. Alas, I didn’t plan that far in advance. Then suddenly, I remembered that I had matched them up! Eons ago when  my husband and I were Children’s Pastors we did a children’s church unit on the Fruit of the Spirit. So, I went back through all our object lessons, videos and small group devotions and found all my fruit research! It’s so weird when you can’t remember things you actually wrote yourself.

Anyway, I really liked the lesson Joy…and I thought the fruit was a funny one: bananas!  Why do bananas go with joy? Well, because bananas are naturally smile-y!

OK, I doubt God made them that way on purpose, but Lydia thought it was hilarious! We also read & memorized Nehemiah 8:10 “The joy of the Lord makes me strong.” (NIrV) Since being strong is something Lydia is always working on, this verse is perfect. She memorized it after about 3 minutes.

Then, we tried to open up the banana to eat it and noticed how STRONG it was…strong enough to protect the yummy inside. We talked about being joyful and strong even when we want to whine or cry or complain. She really understands this because practically every five minutes we talk about choosing to be happy instead of having a bad or fearful attitude. Then of course, we peeled the banana and ate it!

As she was eating the banana she said, “I sure do like my strong banana!”