Hello friends! I missed being here last week! Lots going on at the same time! However, that intentional time with our children is an absolute must, so here is Day 3 of our Fruits of the Spirit study! If you need to get caught up, here's where you can find Day 1 {Overview} and Day 2 {Love}.
This lesson was one of my favorites! The object lesson was so super simple, but it has so much potential as our kiddos start to think more deeply about these concepts. As a quick recap, we started every lesson with the Hi Hi the Bible Guy video and a Fruits of the Spirit song. We read the page from Pups of the Spirit for the specific fruit of the day. For joy, the book related it to being happy and having a positive attitude. We took it one step further.
JOY ~ I will be okay with what I have.
Our verse for joy was Psalm 118:24.
This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
For our conversation, I just jumped right into our object lesson. For this particular lesson, you'll need a glass, enough marbles to fill it, a water dropper (or spoon, straw, whatever you want to use), and probably a plate or towel.
I placed the empty glass on the plate and asked Little Man to start naming things that make him happy. He said things like Minecraft, our puppies, playing Legos, pancakes, pizza, dessert, video games, etc. Each time he said something, I poured a dropper-full of water into the glass. "Those things can make us really happy, huh? They're really fun! But look at the glass. Is it full?" No. The water never reached the top.
Then I asked him to start telling me things that God gave us and things that bring us closer to Jesus. He said things like family, the sunshine, going to church, reading our Bibles, singing songs. Each time he said something, I dropped a marble into the water. "Wow! Look at how full the glass is?! What do you think is going to happen?"
We finished the lesson by reciting our memory verse and dropping a marble as we said each word. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law." "Look! The water just overflowed out of the glass! God fills us with joy just like that! When we find our joy in Jesus, we will overflow and can spread that joy to others!"
Now, Little Man and I did not do this next part, but it could potentially be really powerful if you had a child who was old enough to comprehend it. If you filled the glass with water with all the "happy things," it could overflow. Let it hang out on the counter for a week or so. The water will evaporate. When we fill ourselves with happiness from this world, we will never be fully satisfied. It won't last. That happiness will evaporate just like the water and we'll have to keep refilling ourselves. The next week, fill it with marbles. They obviously won't evaporate. When we fill ourselves with joy found in the Lord, it's not easily lost.
Just as we did with our love lesson, we ended by praying over our verse using the ACTS model.
"Jesus, it's so amazing that You can fill us with joy when things like video games and toys can't. I'm sorry that I don't always choose joy. I'm sorry that I didn't choose joy when I got upset about _____. Please forgive me. Thank you for waking us up today! Thank you for giving us the sun and the rain. Help me to remember that I can be joyful and rejoice in You even when I am sad or upset. Amen."
I went off to clean up breakfast and he worked on his torn paper stained glass. He would randomly think of something else that would fit into one of the two categories ... happiness or joy. He'd mention it and we'd decide which category it fit in.
So, I really loved the object lesson for joy. I think there is so much potential for deep thinking and the teacher in me just loves that! But it's also so true. Throughout the week, I found myself asking Little Man, "Are you choosing joy right now?" As time has gone on, I find myself more and more telling him to go add a fruit to his basket because he did such an excellent job of choosing joy even when I know he would have rather done something else. He opened my eyes. God's really cool like that and uses our kids to humble us regularly. I had an incident this week that just really upset me. I was running my mouth to my husband ("I can't believe she said that! What kind of friend is she?") and just being pretty ugly. Well, Little Man overheard me and very politely reminded me that I should be choosing joy. Yes, kid, I should. I don't need to seek approval from friends, coworkers, or anyone else on this earth. I find my joy in Christ. Thanks for the reminder, Little Man.
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