Pumpkins are everywhere! We all love to go to pumpkin patches or stores where they are already cut and for sale. We then select our favorite pumpkin and take it home to decorate. You might even say that pumpkins are the Christmas Trees of October. Pumpkins can bring us a lot of joy too. We might make a pumpkin pie or roast the seeds. As you decorate or cook your pumpkin this year, you can also think about the fruit of the Spirit. After all the fruit of the Spirit grows a lot like a pumpkin. Let me explain…

Pumpkin. Fruit or Vegetable?

Sometimes we think of a pumpkin as a vegetable because it grows on the ground. However, a pumpkin begins as a flower and contains seeds that make it a fruit. Likewise, the fruit of the Spirit contains the seed of Salvation in God’s Word (Luke 8:11). In addition, we bloom knowledge (the flower) as God grows his fruit through us. In my teaching resources, I share how the elements needed to grow a strawberry illustrate how God produces the fruit of the Spirit through our lives.  To summarize, it goes like this:

• humus soil = humility
• a seed = God’s Word
• stem = a straight and upright integrity
• leaves = relationships that bring the light of Christ into your life
• flower = blooming new knowledge
• berry or fruit = the fruit of the Spirit that can reproduce

God doesn’t have to follow this system to grow His fruit through us. However, since He uses it when growing actual strawberries, I think it makes sense. This system follows a holistic approach. Consequently, the components contain spiritual, social, and academic growth explained here.

Pumpkin Life Cycle

Pumpkins are a lot different than strawberries. However, they still require seeds, soil, vines, leaves, and flowers. Therefore, a pumpkin’s life cycle can also illustrate how God can produce the fruit of the Spirit through us.

Peter, the Pumpkin Eater

When teaching a pumpkin’s life cycle through this holistic method, I love to use the nursery rhyme lyrics of Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater. But not the traditional rhyme. In my version, Peter is a squirrel who loves to eat pumpkins. He loves pumpkins so much that he wants his wife to live inside one. Hence, this version still begins… “He put her in a pumpkin shell, and there he kept her very well”.

But then, our version continues…

But day by day she did not stay. A pumpkin rots and forms decay.

The sides grow soft and then it falls. A house can’t stand without the walls.

As things turn cold, Peter is told, It’s turning black and growing mold.

A pumpkin’s not a place to dwell. No one’s able to stand the smell.

So Peter’s wife, to avoid strife, agreed to live with wildlife.

Bacteria, sometimes called germs, Eat the pumpkin along with worms.

The pumpkin host was gone almost, Until it had become compost.

But a pumpkin seed left behind. Did grow some roots and then a vine.

A month or two, the flower grew. It seemed a pumpkin formed anew.

Peter-Peter, with a grin, Knew how to grow a new pumpkin.

Peter Peter Learns About Decay and Growth -by Dawn Stephens

The illustrations of the two squirrels inside a decaying pumpkin will make you smile too. This resource is available on TeachersPayTeachers. The rhyme comes as a printable guided reading book, PowerPoint slides, and a video. There is also a Teacher’s Guide that includes lesson plans, worksheets, and hands-on activities. I recommend you buy both as a Bundle.

In conclusion, as you think about how a pumpkin grows, be thankful that God grows His fruit through you too. Then put in your first name and email below. We will send you more information about the steps to be the fruit-bearing vessel God designed you to be. In addition, you’ll receive fruitful Friday emails with even more resources from Dawn Stephens Books.

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