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Let your kids help you with the setup for this devotional. Look at the list of "fruits" in the passage below, then have your kids think about which real fruit most typifies each characteristic. For example, you might choose a lemon for joy because it has so much zest. Once you've made your list of fruits, look through old magazines to find a picture of each fruit. Cut out the pictures, paste each fruit to an index card and label the card with the appropriate characteristic. You'll also need a pad of paper or a notebook to serve as a family journal.

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 (Gal. 5:22-23).

Put all the fruit cards in a bowl on the table. Read the passage, then have three family members each pick a fruit card from the bowl. Ask each person with a card to define that fruit of the Spirit. Have an older child write those definitions in your family journal and on the back of the appropriate card. Then, talk together about ways you can demonstrate that fruit with one another. Ask each family member to choose one of the three fruits to work on this week. Post the cards on the fridge and end your time by asking God to help you produce good "fruit" this week.

Read the passage and talk about how well each of you practiced your "fruit" from the week before. Then, repeat the devotional from Week 1 until you've talked about all nine fruits of the Spirit. As you get the hang of this, feel free to deepen your discussions. Talk about which fruit of the Spirit you could work on as a family. For example, say your family wants to work on peace. Have each person finish the sentence, "Our family feels peaceful when … " A child might say, "I feel peaceful when only one person talks at a time during dinner." A parent might add, "I feel peaceful when we work out a problem without yelling." For the rest of the month, try to catch each other practicing your family "fruit." You can even make a chart for mapping your success. End your time by thanking God for sending his Spirit to help you become more like him.

Read the passage. Now that you've discussed each fruit of the Spirit, talk about the ways you've seen the fruits in each other this month. Ask one person to write these responses down in your family journal. Talk about the new attitudes you might have noticed in your family and think of ways you can continue to practice the fruits of the Spirit. List these ideas and post the list someplace where everyone can see it and refer to it often.

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