Beatitudes from the Bible and 8 Lamentable “Bee” Attitudes that grow the fruit of the Spirit.
Those of you that know me, know I am all about growing the fruit of the Spirit in every situation. This fruit, however, is most plentiful when trials and lamentable situations occur. Our world is full of them. I recently have been studying the Beatitudes and what exactly Jesus meant when he said “Blessed are those who…”. Following that statement are words that do not leave us feeling very blessed. At least, not in the way we define a blessing. Let’s take a closer look at the beatitudes and learn a song to remember them.
The Beatitudes of the Bible
Beatitudes in the Message
As you can see, explaining exactly what Christ meant by telling us we are blessed is an important part of understanding the Beatitudes. Let’s begin by defining a blessing as being in a relationship with Christ. If we have the right relationship with Christ then whenever difficult situations happen we will react with Him by our side. To better explain the Beatitudes, let’s consider what the word itself sounds like. We hear the words “be” and “attitudes”. If we are to BE like Christ, our ATTITUDE in situations will reflect Him.
Beatitudes and Fruit of the Spirit
In the story, The Little Pot, this vessel wants to BE something significant for the potter. Let’s face it, we all want to be significant and important to God and others. In a sense, that is what we feel makes us blessed. Eventually, Little Pot discovers that the potter wants it to bear fruit. Likewise, we are to grow the fruit of the Spirit. The process that Little Pot goes through in producing a strawberry mirrors the process we can follow to produce the fruit of the Spirit. I’ve written about that process here.
The steps include blooming knowledge represented by the flower that grows through Little Pot. For that flower to pollinate and become fruit, it might get help from bees. that gave me the idea that while the bee’s actions and attitudes help Little Pot produce fruit, our attitudes also help us produce love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. that’s when I began to wonder how the Beatitudes connect to the fruit of the Spirit.
We grow the fruit of the Spirit in hard circumstances. It is when we face tough situations (like the ones mentioned by Jesus in the Beatitudes) that He produces the fruit of the Spirit in us. This fruit is a blessing! Likewise, it is an attitude that allows us to…
- Have joy when life is hard and we face loss
- Make peace
- Be patient and gentle, waiting on God
- Show love and kindness to others even when they do not deserve it.
- Be good and pure in a sinful world
- Have self-control and continue to be faithful even when others persecute us.
If we have an attitude that exemplifies the fruit of the Spirit, we will “Be” a vessel that the potter not only uses but one that is BLESSED!
A Beatitude Song
Little Pot thinks of the Beatitudes as BEE-Attitudes. In addition, I’ve written a Beatitude Song to help us remember each item in the list of Beatitudes. You can download a free copy of the song and learn how each line of the song matches a Beatitude.
Little Pot also learns that the fruit that grows inside it is for the purpose of others. Through getting to know Tea Pot, Little Pot learns that its fruit is to serve others. Finally, the pots meet a third vessel named Oil Lamp. Here, readers learn to shine when scared or things seem darkest. Be sure to subscribe on the right-hand side to receive updates on each new post within this Christian Children’s Authors blog. Follow us for books news, free resources, parenting tips, and encouragement!
This blog was written by Dawn Stephens.
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I love how you explain the Beatitudes. Your books are fascinating.