I'm a sucker for a documentation project (Exhibit A: journals, photobooks and videos galore!) so #the100dayproject is right up my alley (It's like a Venn diagram of Instagram and Creative projects aka: my wheelhouse!) If you're not familiar, The 100 Day Project "is a free, global art project. The idea is simple: choose a creative project, do it every day for 100 days, and share your process online."
I've participated 3 times before, but when it rolled around again in 2020 it was right at the start of the pandemic, so I was too overwhelmed to make it happen. (At that point I felt like managing the bare minimum of our regular responsibilities for 100 days was going to a miracle in an of itself...so I did something incredibly uncharacteristic for myself and bowed out of something that sounded like fun but would actually make me cry.)
I wrote quite a bit about my thought process for choosing a project previously, and it all still holds true (TLDR: my project requirements are: Easy, Meaningful, Portable, Fun) so I'll spare you the drawn out intro and get to the good stuff- my 2021 project!
Our Daily Fruit
(Alright, now this is going to get a bit corny, and a lot Jesus-y...stick with me though)
My idea is to spend the next 100 days focusing on the concept of the fruit of the Spirit...learning about it and trying to live it out as a family. Yep- the whole Bowden brood is getting involved this time around (well- they don't actually know that yet, but I'll hype it up big and quick).
If you're not familiar with the fruit of the Spirit- it's a list of qualities of the Holy Spirit:
"The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."
- Galatians 5:22-23
It's called "fruit" because it's the evidence of God's goodness in our lives. These qualities are things that are instilled in Christians through the Holy Spirit, and then our actions that are in line with the character of God become visible, tangible examples of Him to others.
(Disclaimer, I'm faaaaaar from a Bible scholar, so that is the super-simple, mostly-correct way to describe a much grander concept. Option B was me just linking to this video.)
(Secondary disclaimer, I don't have a great reason for including a charcuterie board picture in this post, but it does technically contain fruit, and was a super LOVING way that my mom brought me JOY. It is not, however, a good tool for practicing SELF-CONTROL.)
I've wanted to get into more formal spiritual practices with the kids (alright- I could also use some motivation myself too...) so I thought this project would be the perfect way to be more intentional with how we live. The parameters I've landed on for my project are pretty simple- there are 9 "types" of fruit, so we'll spend 10 days focusing on each one- with a 10 day "general intro" period in the upfront. I didn't want to get too ambitious, or legalistic etc. with the activities for each day, so that part will be super flexible. Basically, the project just serves as a loose framework for us to try to incorporate more goodness into our daily actions. Anything love related? Counts. Anything having to do with peace? Counts. I came up with a few categories to try to spur on different ways to think about and practice "bearing fruit":
• READ • DISCUSS • SERVE • CREATE • REFLECT • APPRECIATE •
So my thought is some days we'll read about that week's "fruit" (either in Scripture, or even just noticing these qualities in our "regular" books); we can talk about them; we can practice living them out (towards each other and our broader community); I might get super Pinterest-y and organize a craft (or a snack!!); we can reflect on times we've experienced a particular fruit; we can show appreciation when we see it currently in our lives. I want to encourage each other to make it as actionable as possible- even if just simple ways we treat each other kindly...but at times I hope it plays out in grander ways as well. I'm trying to keep it really open-ended so that we can make it work over the long haul...focusing less on the logistics of what we do, and more about the meaning behind how we live and love.
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