October 23rd - What We Learned

This Sunday, October 23rd, your 2-5 year old children learned that God created us to do good things!  To find out about God's amazing plan for us, we read from Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  And from Ephesians 2:10  For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Your children learned that they can fulfill God's plan for their lives right now, and in class we brainstormed ways to do this.  We also discussed the fact that we are sinful people who cannot do good on our own.  We need Jesus' help to do good, but the only way we can have His help is by inviting Him to be in charge of our lives and trusting Him to take the consequences for our sin by dying on the cross for us.

The key words this week were "Keep to the plan!" and "What is the plan?"  We incorporated fun ways to remind the kids that God has a plan for them, and you can do the same at home.  During HANG TIME, play "Good Guys" with your child using action figures, dollhouse people, plastic animals, toy houses, farm sets - anything you can pretend with.  You can also use blocks or Legos or cardboard boxes to build structures for the good guys to climb and fly around.  Pretend to be good guys who are out to do good things, like save the animals, protect the house, build a wall, etc.  Repeat the words "WHAT'S THE PLAN?" "DO GOOD THINGS!" often as you play.  Remind your child that God's plan for them is to do good things with their lives! 

At BED TIME, cuddle up with your child and pray with him.  "Dear God, thank You for making [name of child].  Thank You for making me his mommy/daddy.  I love [name of child] so much.  I know You love him even more!  We praise You, God, for Your amazing love.  It is so amazing that You love everything about us.  Thank You, God, for making us and loving us.  Amen."


Your kindergarten through fifth graders learned that we can use our imagination to do even more good.  The lesson, based on Matthew 5:14-16, highlights the fact that God has called us to be salt and light to the people around us.  Have you ever eaten a low salt/low sodium diet?  If so, then you know how enhancing salt can be in the right proportions, and that is just the added enhancement that our imagination can do for our influence on others.  


During your next DRIVE TIME, talk with your children about the creative gifts that you see in them, and ask them how they can use those gifts to help someone else.  You can also brainstorm together about people or organizations you know of who are already using their creativity to help others.  


Because your child may no longer want to be seen with you at school or to be kissed goodbye at the drop-off line in the mornings, it can be easy to forget how important cuddling with you and being reassured of his continued importance in your life really is to your child.  The BED TIME prayer written above for pre-schoolers can be just as important for your high-schoolers to hear you pray about them (and every age child in-between).