Fruit of the Spirit: Peace

Last week as we covered the Fruit of the Spirit of Peace, I wondered if our entire world needed a touch of this lesson.

Peace is a concept that seems to suffer from over-generalization. I know of someone who used to sign notes (yes, notes. Such a thing existed before emails, dear children.), "Peace, love, and hair grease." (Terribly clever, huh?). If one were to hold up their first two fingers, others would assume they were flashing them a peace sign. Peace signs are splashed across our chests, worn in our ears, and have even found their way under our clothing.

Peace...the concept is out there, but do we really grasp its meaning?

I opened our lesson on peace by discussing how Jesus wants us to people who love one another and get along. He desires for our attitudes to demonstrate a calm, peaceful nature. He wants our words to be kind, our actions to be considerate, and our deeds to be thoughtful.

(Dare I mention that I was dealing with two children who were attempting to scale our picnic table while I discussed such notions? Ah...life with preschoolers never really resembles a peaceful environment.)

After rereading our Fruit of the Spirit verse, we read The Peace Book by Todd Parr.

We then read the story of Jesus calming the storm from our favorite Bible Story Book.

Although we never got to our craft last week, I had intended for us to paint a picture of a strawberry using strawberry flavored kool-aid. I decided upon this craft because painting is a peaceful activity and because the strawberry is the fruit illustration for Peace on our Fruit of the Spirit tree. (Be warned: Kool-Aid painting will stain clothing).

We have revisited the concept of being a "peacemaker" in the heat of sibling battle, talking about how peace begins in our very own home. I have heard a few kinder words, seen a few more polite exchanges of toys, and heard a few demands for one another to "be peaceful to me."

Perhaps we are getting somewhere on this idea.

Maybe we need to mail our lesson plans to a few of our neighbors' leaders....