I have to say I was pretty excited about Sunday’s lesson. I’m not sure why, but I just thought it was a good follow up to the lessons I’ve been trying to teach the kids about their self worth. I warned my wife in advance about her participation.
I had my wife draw a picture (she’s a MUCH better artist than me). When the lesson started I was going to compliment the artwork specifically and then crumple it up, but I decided that I didn’t want to model that behavior. Remembering that my oldest really liked Orange and Carrot from the previous lessons I decided to have Orange make a guest appearance and have him do the crumpling. Orange was great because he got both of the kids focused after we watched some song videos. Orange, by the way, is just a tangerine with eyes and a mouth that I drew on it. Obviously, every time orange makes an appearance he is a new orange (the old ones don’t last that long).
So I showed them Mommy’s picture and talked about all the things that I really liked about it. Then Orange came up and crumpled it (I warned my wife in advance that this would happen). They got a kick out of it and after I asked them they were able to articulate why that was wrong. I stretched that part out a bit talking about valuing someone’s artwork and then I brought it back to us.
I brought out a full length mirror and set it up. I looked in the mirror and thanked God for the attributes that I thought he did a great job with. It went something like “Thank you God, you did a great job with my smile.” Then my wife stood in front of the mirror and did the same. We thanked God for physical qualities and internal qualities. I thought both were important because we also have to learn to love and respect our bodies as well as our other attributes.
When it came time for my oldest to do it he kind of clammed up. I really wanted him to say what he thought God did a good job on but I think he might have gotten a little shy. So as my four year old stood in front of the mirror, I held his shoulders looked at the reflection and thanked God for some of his amazing attributes. My wife said that the expression on his face indicated how meaningful it was to him. My two year old got in front of the mirror, put both hands on his chest and said “Maddox!” It was cute. I stepped in and tried to do the same with him as I did with my older son but it was a little more difficult to hold his attention.
I then played the video and I gave each of them hugs telling them “I love my picture!” They seemed to really get a kick out of it. Max and Maddox have made references to the lessons periodically so they seem to be meaningful. I suspect that part of that is because it is a unique time and that I am pulling in some things that are meaningful to them. I’m still wondering when the well will dry up and I’ll run out of idea.
Raising Gentle Faith 