"But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!" Galatians 5:22-23 I'm in charge of the project center for the elementary age kids at church. I try to come up with a craft to help the kids apply the Bible stories they learn, and to apply the Bible verses they hear to their life. I will usually include in the craft some kind of cutting, gluing, and coloring assignment, but the overall goal is application. It doesn't always change your life when you make a craft. I'm not saying God can't work in this way. But normally, it takes a little more than the cutting and gluing. The point of making a project with the kids is to get them to think in more depth on the subject. I love doing crafts with the kids. But I love it even more when the craft brings them closer to knowing Jesus. This week we studied the Fruit of the Spirit. When we are growing in Christ, these fruit should be apparent in our lives. We had a quiet time of reflection. I went through this prayer letter that I designed for the kids, and explained what each fruit means. I explained it as simple as I could. Some of the harder fruits I had to explain again to them... Joy. Happiness is what we feel when good things are happening to us. Joy is a choice. Joy means we choose to have a good attitude even if things are going wrong. Joy is when we celebrate the good that God does. Gentleness. Sometimes when we are upset we let our voice sound really mad. We yell at people. Gentleness helps us to talk nicely and sweetly. It's not using an angry voice. It's making sure we care about the other person's feelings. Peace. When we are afraid, or angry we get really upset. God's peace helps us to calm down. We know that He is going to help us, and take care of everything we need. It's being happy with what we have. Faithfulness. Being faithful is about keeping your promises. When you say you will do something, you do it. You can't change your mind and hurt your friends feelings. Self-control. I am in control of my body. I decide what I will say, and what I will do. It means I don't yell when I'm angry. I don't hit other people. I make sure to not lose my temper. I encouraged them to talk with Jesus as they wrote out their prayer. This wasn't time to talk to their neighbor, or to be silly with their friends. This was time with Jesus. If they had questions, they could quietly raise their hand and I would come help. I explained words better to them, I spelled out words for them to write, and I read the hard to read words like "patience". It was so neat to see all the kids writing out their prayers. They were talking with Jesus. I know God was smiling. If these kids can learn at a young age what God's voice sounds like, when they are old it will be second nature to them to dialogue with Him. He cares about all details of their lives. He listens. He answers. He comforts us. He is with us. With His help, we are able to have these fruit in our lives. Jesus is what makes the difference. You can feel free to use the coloring pages for your own PERSONAL use. But please be kind and do not claim these pictures as your own or offer them for downloads. It makes me sad to see my pictures on a coloring page website run by someone else.