Growing Fruit

Our Residential Life staff are very impressive people.  To be frank, their roles and responsibilities are a bit intimidating for a desk-dweller like me.

The Res Life staff take charge of the students every day after class and on the weekends. They implement programming, supervise leisure time, provide assistance wherever and whenever necessary, ensure regulations are being followed, and manage behavioral issues. They train students in meal planning, preparation and grocery shopping. They conduct assessments, and help the volunteers who work with the students. They also assist students in finances, personal care and health management, and work closely with other staff to make sure that all Shepherds College components are working in harmony. 

That is quite the list, isn’t it? I will never complain about typing up meeting minutes again.

Miss Sheppard

This week I heard from Stephanie Sheppard on our Residential Life staff. She wanted to share a special activity night she experienced with the 2^nd and 3^rd year ladies.  They’re working on building character by studying the fruit of the Spirit.

Amanda, 3rd year student

Katy, 2nd year student

Miranda and Daniela, 2nd year students

They began their evening by making fruit cobblers and listening to a song called “Full Attention” by Jeremy Riddle. The chorus goes, 

“Please keep my eyes fixed on You, please root my heart so deep in You, keep me abiding, keep me abiding, oh keep me abiding in You, that I may bear fruit.”

Stephanie and the students then discussed good and bad fruit, using an old, spotty banana that Stephanie knew would be mushy, as well as a nice-looking, shiny apple that seemed perfect, but had brown and gritty flesh. They discussed how things can appear good on the outside, but may not have insides that match. And God sees our insides. Shouldn’t they be ripe with healthy fruit – the fruit of the Spirit?

They read Galatians 5:22-23:

“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.”  

The girls divided into pairs and each group discussed one or two characteristics that make up the fruit of the Spirit. They were given a sheet of paper with their characteristic and a verse to support it. Based on the verse, the girls came up with a definition for each characteristic. They then came back together as a group for discussion.

Stephanie and the students created a tree that listed each fruit on individual leaves. They discussed what could happen if a Christian stopped being fruitful. If a tree stopped being fruitful, the leaves would fall off and the tree could wither and die. Could that happen to our faith if we stopped being fruitful?

Trees need healthy roots to live and be fruitful, so they talked about what roots a Christian needs in order to produce the fruit of the Spirit – the Holy Spirit, belief and trust in God, church/fellowship, Scripture and prayer. The girls added these roots to their tree.

This tree is now posted on the window in Home A as a reminder of the fruit God asks us to bear through the work of His Holy Spirit.

Stephanie ended the evening with a prayer and then the entire group enjoyed the “fruits” of their earlier labor by eating blueberry and peach cobblers. 

They wanted to share the simple recipes with you:

Blueberry Cobbler

2 – 20 oz cans of blueberry pie filling
1 egg
½ stick of butter, softened
1 vanilla cake mix

Preheat the oven to 350°. Spread the pie filling in a 13x9 cake pan.
Mix the cake batter, softened butter and egg in a bowl. Once the batter
is stiff, pour over the pie filling and bake for 40-45 minutes.

Peach Cobbler

 

2 – 20 oz cans of peach pie filling
1 egg
½ stick of butter, softened
1 yellow cake mix

Preheat the oven to 350°. Spread the pie filling in a 13x9 cake pan.
Mix the cake batter, softened butter and egg in a bowl. Once the batter
is stiff, pour over the pie filling and bake for 40-45 minutes.

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