Fruit of the Spirit: Kindness

Memory Verse: James 4:17
Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

Bible Lesson:
Fruit of Kindness - Tomato

What does it mean?
Tender concern for others. A desire to treat others with care and respect. Showing care or concern for those who are unkind to you.

I had two buckets, both filled with plastic eggs and had two girls throwing them at each other. One finally decided to dump the bucket on the other, which of course the other one had to dump her bucket. The point of this little episode is that when someone hit you, you want to hit them back. When someone dumps their bucket of eggs on you, you want to do the same to them. Therefore NOT to do it is showing kindness, even when you want to get back at them.

How does Jesus show us an example?
Luke 6:35, "But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.

Jesus showed kindness to those who hated him and were unkind to him. Many of the miracles He did were evidence of the kindness He showed. Peter cut off the ear of the soldier as they were trying to arrest Jesus. Instead of not doing anything, Jesus reaches out and heals the man's ear, showing kindness to His enemy.

How can we show kindness?
What are some ways you can show kindness this week? What about the things you think about? Are they kind or unkind things in your head about others? What about the things you say? Are they helping or hurting your family and friends? What about the things you do? The things you email, text message or write to others, are they showing concern for that person?

One simple thing you can do to show kindness is smile! Just that smile could make someone's day and encourage them.

I had each of the kids write down one thing they could do this week to show kindness on two dye cut tomatoes. Then they hung them one up in the tree on my sketch pad and the other one they took home to remind them to do it. Next week we will pick the tomatoes from the tree and see if they produced the fruit of kindness the previous week. (see first photo for tomato tree or rather pretend vine! :))