Fruit of the Spirit

I want my kids to live lives that display the Fruit of the Spirit.  To be children who learn to be loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, gentle, faithful, good, and self-cotntrolled.  To become adults, in the long run, who have been practicing these things for as long as they can remember.

Lord; this is your work.  I pray you'd grow these in my child. 

I know only the Spirit can develop those in them, but as a parent, I can be the gardener that provides the proper soil, light and water to ensure optimal growing circumstances. 

I pray for wisdom to provide that, and for your Spirit to work in me to grow those so I can be a great model of what it should look like.

Love

"I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning.  I ask that we love one another.  And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands.  As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love."
(2 John 5&6)

A great circle - love by obeying, and the command to obey is to love.

So much comes back to love; I pray that these children meet Jesus, who IS love, and learn how to love others.

Love & Hospitality

Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters.  Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. - Hebrews 13:1,2

May these children see others in a good light, as people worthy of treating well.  May they see them as family or respected strangers, even though they may be wearing the disguise of a classmate they see every day and sometimes have a hard time liking.  This is a hard thing, but I pray that you would help these children have your perspective on people, and the ability to be genuine in their love and good treatment of all others.

The Way He Loves

I pray that this child loves you with a life long devotion that is evident in the things he does, the way he does them, and to all who surround him.

Good Friday

Father God, may each of these children that I care about know today that you love them.  May they know the measures that you took to allow them to be close to you.  May they hear what Jesus went through on the first Good Friday and understand that it was done for them.  May we model sacrificial love for them, but may we point them to the one who gave it all and loves them far more than we possible can.  Draw them to you through your Son, Jesus Christ.

May they understand their need for forgiveness and accept your gift of forgiveness and cleansing and fresh starts.  May they grow up knowing how to repent and start anew.  May they come back to the cross time and time again, knowing your sacrifice and loving you for it.

Draw them, Lord Jesus, draw them to you.

Remembering

May I remember, as I look at my older child, the joy and amazement and wonder I felt when she was new.  The overwhelming love.  May I choose to be amazed by her again, and to love her that fully and unconditionally.

Old Friends & New

I pray that she would have enough love in her heart that she can grasp how to hold onto old friends and still make room for new ones.  May she be a friend to all just like her dad was - a friend who challenges to new heights and is a good influence. 

At the same time, may I not expect her to be mature beyond her years.  There are things I pray that she develops.

Love and Beauty

I pray that today, my children would see love in action, would see beauty, and would be a part of spreading that; a part of your kingdom coming in the here and now.