Surface tension...and tension that runs deep and how to break it

Surface tension...

i.e.,  tension in our lives and how to break it

Materials: 

A medium sized bowl or pie plate
small pitcher of water

small amount of liquid dish soap

Q-tip

Pepper and salt

Introduction: for you, not the children

I know something that is true, very real, carries enormous power, is available to all of us to use at all times, but is used infrequently. This amazing "always at hand" phenomena is the use of the words, "praise the Lord," or "blessed be God."  Actually, the phenomena is any praise of God that is used.  When, in the midst of some kind of trouble or persistent problem, you use some form of praise to God, you will, at that moment allow the Kingdom of Heaven to surround you in some way.  Sure, it is a real mystery, but it is a very singularly remarkable reality. I challenge you to try it even if you are skeptical and you just want to test it out.  Go ahead! You can not make God's grace into anything foolish and all creation will, if you are able to say it, start blessing God and all of a sudden you will feel better.  Guaranteed.  I have a feeling that if you are trying to make something foolish out of the words then you will not be able to say the words.  Go ahead, try it.
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To teach this truth to children you can have a wonderful little experiment. Pour about 1/2 cup of water into a small container or pie plate.  Sprinkle some salt onto the water while you talk about all the good things in your life...or an imaginary person's life.  Perhaps a person has just gotten into the school of their choice, they have a great friend that they know is going to the same school.  They have been asked to try out for the debate team or the basketball team or the choir...whatever sounds spiffy to you.  With each good thing sprinkle a bit of the white salt onto the water.  It will sink to the bottom.  Then make up some problem.  For instance, you could say that your best friend made another friend and now acts as if you don't even exist. Sprinkle some pepper onto the surface of the water. Perhaps you could say your mom said you have to babysit your little sister when she gets out of school and so you cannot hang out with your friends after school. Sprinkle more pepper on the water.  You could say that the Math test that you felt so confident about was trickier than you thought it would be and you didn't even pass the test.  Sprinkle more pepper on the water. Muse about the fact that now your life seems to be getting in a real mess and you are starting to feel some knots deep within you and you are finding it very hard to feel the peacefulness you had felt when everything seemed to be going so well for you.

Tell the children you are going to tell them about a great mystery of God that needs to be used all the time but when you use the strength of this mystery in situations that bring you great discomfort, sadness or pain, it is particularly helpful.  In times of real trouble it is very hard to say these words but if you do you will be relieved of much angst.  The miraculous phenomena is praise.  Simply say, "Blessed be God," or "Praise the Lord!" or any other praise to God and at that moment you have opened heaven's floodgates and you will find an inner strength and calmness.  Tell the children to watch closely. Put a small amount of dish soap on the Qtip and as you drop the soap onto the pepper say, "Blessed be God!" ...all the pepper scatters to the side.

Tell them that of course your best friend may still shun you and you will still have to study for tests and you still have to do all the right things as well as you can.  You still have to obey God in every way you know how and be the very best person you can be. But in situations where you are torn up inside these praise prayers will help restore some equanimity to your soul.

God bless you! 

Introduction

Introduction

Joy in Surprise

Children love to see things happen! A movement out of the ordinary, a color that changes all of a sudden, a difference in what was; a flash, a funny turn, some bit of a something that elicits a “wow!” A thaumatrope has this kind of wow factor. It is a small disc with a picture on both sides and strings on opposite sides of its circumference which are used for spinning. A wind-up of the strings will let the disc spin, making the pictures super-impose upon each other revealing a new picture. (I will show you how to make one later.) The word comes from the Greek “thauma,” which means miracle, or marvel, and “trope,” from the Greek “tropus,” or Latin “tropos,” meaning turn direction. In the 19^th century some of these discs were made as toys to give double meaning to British governmental tribulations at the time. A popular thaumatrope during that time showed a bird on one side of the disc and a cage on the other. When the disc was spun the bird became a caged bird.

Children love these funny turns and even if they have seen something a dozen times, if it has a bit of a “funny turn,” they still enjoy it. Once you have drawn them in by these amazing turns you have caught them and can teach them; plant little seeds of God’s love into their hearts and mind with words or other experiments to help concretize truths in their minds with the memory of the physical experiment. They may not always remember the details of the experiment or the lesson but they will remember how they felt and will recall the goodness, the magnanimity they experienced. This feeling is actually the elevation of the dignity of their soul. It is a realization of God within them, around them and, I believe, it condenses all the universe into a flash, a moment of understanding to them that they, and others around them, are important, loved specs in this world and in that knowing comes the beauty of believing that God allowed, made, this moment for them in order to show His great love for them. I believe it makes them feel safe and secure for a moment and that feeling will be able to be remembered at later times. It makes them believe that they can climb across all kinds of obstacles or problems with the knowledge of this love, power, and grace that has lifted their thoughts and minds to God, their maker, sustenance and deliverer. For a moment they have hope and a spark of joy. Listen to this: “Do not be saddened this day, for rejoicing in the Lord must be your strength!” Nehemiah 8:10

Children have many “bug bears” they cannot verbalize. Oftentimes they don’t know why they are afraid, why they act the way they do, why certain things trip them up and make them feel awful, angry, sad. Do we, as adults, know these things? I’m sure I do not! We try, we study, we try to analyze ourselves and others by using self-improvement books and analysts but there are some things we just can’t quite get to the root well enough to be able to pull out all the rhizomes. Pieces of the problem surface again and again…sometimes it seems the nastiness of the problem gets easier to get rid of but perhaps we just get better at squelching the memories and letting the blasted root bury itself so deeply we think we have gotten rid of it. It is my belief that all of us have a need for that spark of the Divine to touch us, to heal us, to remind us that we are His and that we are worthy of His spark no matter how cantankerous we are or how much we have chastised ourselves with guilt for real or even imagined offenses. A touch of the Divine gives us, youngsters and adults alike, a spark of joy and that, we know, is our strength. “Rejoicing in the Lord must be your strength!” Neh. 8:10

In these lessons I hope to elicit, through experiments and funny turns, a rekindling of God in you and in those to whom you show these experiments. I hope, in seeing the effects of God in your life, the lives of others, and in the world around us that no belief becomes belief and weak belief becomes strong. I hope that we all come to know that there is One God who made us, loves us, and draws us to Him. With His grace and through His grace we will come to know Him and see the effects of His grace in us, others, and our universe.

3rd Spark: Magic Milk - Creation

3rd Spark

    Magic Milk: Creation

"In the beginning was the Word; and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.  All things were made through Him and without Him was made nothing that has been made.  In Him was life and the life was the light of men.  And the light shines in the darkness and the darkness grasped it not. John 1:1-3" "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. John 1:14"

Items you will need: 

•  a shallow container (a pie plate works well)
• a cup of whole milk
• a small container with a small amount of liquid dish soap
• two or three Q-tips
• red, blue, and yellow liquid food color

  

This lesson is such a great description of the dynamism of Creation.  Try to memorize the above Scriptures from the book of John. When you put the milk in the pie pan recite this Scripture giving special emphasis on the word Word.  You could talk about surface tension but I think it will be more appropriate in the next lesson whereas this lesson can be more effective just being about the power of the Word and God's word in Creation.

Tell them we are going to pretend this is the world and that God is just making the world.

Ask the children if they think God made the world and then just sat back and said, "There, now that is finished." Emphasize that God made the world but it is still changing, still being created and that we are part of that creation.

Drop three or four drops of red, blue and yellow food coloring in the middle of the pan of milk.  The colors can almost touch but not quite. Remind them that these are primary colors and that every other color in the world can be made from red, blue and yellow.

Tell them to listen to the Scripture intently while you say it again.  You could show them the sign language for the word, Word. (It is the G shape of your dominant hand touching your index finger of the other hand.) Tell the children that each time you say, word, they should sign it. After you say, "and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us," tell them that it means Jesus came to dwell among us.  It literally means He pitched his tent with us.  He wants to live in us! And He does if we invite Him into our hearts, our lives.

So, "the Word, Jesus, became flesh and dwelt among us...when you say "dwelt" it is impressive to the children if you will simultaneously drop a bit of soap into the pan in the center of the colors.

Let them watch the colors for a little while.

You can remind the children of what we talked about with the balloon and how what we do to others is what we do to God. What we do for others is also what we do for God.  What we do actually makes the world better or worse depending on what we do. The effect of our actions may not be obvious right away but the effect is real.

Notice how the colors pop up in various ways throughout the milk.  "See, something is happening over here!" "And here!" It just keeps going.  You might wan to tell older children about the ripple effect: the continuing and spreading results of an event or action.

The children enjoy watching the colors arrange themselves for a long time. You can mention several more times that our actions cause other actions.  I don't think you should focus on the mean things they may do sometimes; just talk about how the good they do makes the world a better place.

I can't tell you how long the ripples and magnificent colors pop up in various places.  It has always outlasted my staying power!

2nd Spark:  Catastrophic crack (balloons) 

"...whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for Me....What you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for Me. Matthew 25:40-45"

Gather together  three helium quality balloons, scotch tape and a few stick pins. Have only three balloons visible or  children will want the left-over balloons at the end of your lesson and you will have a dilemma because you might not have one for everyone...and you really do not want to have balloons on hand for everyone.  Why? Because they can be a little bit dangerous and also after you do the lesson they will want to make their balloons squeak and that will be worse than listening to the blow-out birthday horns that have a squeaker in them. You will be sorry.  Go ahead and buy a couple bags of the helium quality balloons though because we will use them in another lesson. (There is also a chance that one of your balloons will break while you are blowing it up and you will need to have another on hand...just not readily visible.)

When the children are all seated show them the balloons and tell them you are going to show them a trick with them.  Blow up one of the balloons and in the middle of blowing up the balloon pull on the neck of the balloon and show them how loudly it squeaks. You might tell them that sometimes we sound a bit like that when we whine and yell for things.  You might even let a balloon loose after you blow it up just to get them excited.  They do love that! Someone will run to get it for you. Now you have their attention. 

Blow a balloon up again and this time tie a knot in it and ask them if they know what will happen if you stick a pin into the balloon. This is not the time to act brave while you pop the balloon but cringe and cower while you hold the balloon away from you and pop it. They will scramble for the pieces. Make sure you gather all the pieces and then tell them you are going to stick a pin in another balloon and it won't pop.  Blow up the balloon and tell them that we are going to pretend that the balloon is us.  Tell them there is an easy way to make yourself strong.  Tell them that life with Jesus makes us super strong.  Take a piece of tape and put it on the balloon. Say that this piece of tape represents Baptism; when we acknowledge that we are a child of God and ask for His grace in our life.  Ask if they can think of any other ways that we can become stronger with God.  Along with their suggestions, you can suggest that reading the Bible, or going to church, or praying will make us stronger. Put a piece of tape over the other piece making a cross shape.  Someone will most likely notice that it is a cross shape and you can say something about how much Jesus loved us...so much that He died on the cross to save us.  

With these pieces of tape on the balloon mention to them that sometimes we all do bad things.  Oftentimes we are not very nice to others even though Jesus said that whatever we do to others we do to Him. Ask if they can think of anything they might do that would hurt someone else.  You will get answers across the spectrum from hitting someone to running over someone with a car!  That one surprised me! Yikes! With each of the "sins" they mention put a stick pin into the thick piece of the tape. 

(You may not want to do this next section...but it is particularly effective with older children.)

After just a few pins are placed tell them that there is such a thing as a catastrophic crack...a crack so strong that it does severe damage no matter how strong we are.  That crack is the sin of turning our backs on Jesus and believing we can live without him. Put a pin in the balloon not on the tape. Of course it will pop. Look very sad and gather the pieces slowly. Ask if that kind of sin can be fixed.  Wait for a few answers.  Blow up the other balloon.  Tell them that what we would need to do is to remember that Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins.  Put the cross of tape back on the balloon.  We would have to tell Jesus we are sorry; ask Him to forgive us and ask Him for His Holy Spirit.  Now tell them we will pretend they are the balloon and the air in the balloon is the Holy Spirit. (I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13) Even young children seem to be able to take it into their understanding that with Jesus in them they can easily do nice things, give in to others, forgive others when it is not easy, and feel better about "offering things up to God" instead of holding grudges. Remind them of ways to keep themselves strong; going to church, reading the Bible, praying, and listening to God and trying to obey Him.  Then, again,  ask for ways that we hurt God. Remind them that what we do to others we do to Jesus.  

When they mention hitting, pushing, not letting someone play, not doing what Mom and Dad or the teacher says, calling someone names, whining when we are asked to do something...all these things are sin...and with each one mentioned put a stick pin into the thick part of the tape.  I have never put in so many that it bursts so I don't know just how many you can stick into it but I have put in at least ten with no effect. 

Mention to them that just as doing something bad to someone is the same as doing something bad to Jesus, so doing something good for someone is the same as doing something good for Jesus.  You can finish the lesson by listening to all the good things they come up with that they can do for others. 

Tell them that at the next lesson you will poke a stick all the way through a balloon!

The Apple of God's Eye; 1st spark

1st Spark:  The Apple of His Eye

“He shielded them and cared for them, guarding them as the apple of His eye. Deuteronomy 32:10”

“Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings. Psalm 17:8”

“Keep my commands and live, my teaching as the apple of your eye. Proverbs 7:2”

“Whoever touches you touches the apple of my eye. Zechariah 2:12”

Show the children a freshly polished apple and tell them that you know God has hidden something in the apple; He has hidden something in every apple! Tell them you know it is there as well as you know that the sun gives us daylight. Tell them that there are lots of things like that; things that we know and believe but we really can’t see: air, love, electricity, gravity, the pull of the moon and knowing that the sun is still shining even though we don’t see it at night. You can think of many other examples I’m sure. We see the effects of these things even though we can’t see the forces. Tell them God is like that; God is love and we experience God and His love through others, in ourselves, and in our world.

Cut the apple crosswise. Be amazed at the star. Show the star around to everyone. God said we are the apple of His eye and that whoever touches us, touches the apple of His eye. What did He mean? First let’s think about what the “apple of one’s eye” means. The black spot of our eye is called the pupil. When we are students we are also called pupils. The word pupil comes from the Latin word pupus or pupa meaning boy or girl, or pupillus- orphan. It really means “little doll” which refers to the tiny reflection that you can see in a person’s pupil. And that reflection is referred to as the “apple of one’s eye.”

Can you see my reflection in my grandson's eyes?

◊ The next paragraph is more information for you; you may or may not want to use it in your lesson. It would depend on the ages of the children and/or the time available.

What is the apple of an eye? I have heard that when the term was first used, the pupil, the black opening in the center of the iris through which light passes to the retina, was thought to be a solid, round object. It was called an “apple” because apples were common spherical objects. Sight, being very precious, made it logically the one thing referred to as a metaphor for something or someone most precious. Therefore if someone was extremely precious to another, they might say the person was “the apple of their eye.” But God, having made us and being omniscient, knew that the pupil was a hole for letting in light. If He used this analogy for us it was, I believe, for this moment; for children to be amazed at His choice of words for us and His great care for us.

Tell the children some little bit about how protected our eyes are. There are bones around our eyes, eyelashes to help protect our eyes and involuntary (and voluntary) reflexes for blinking and shielding our eyes. If something comes at us, or we fall, our eyes automatically close and the bones will be hit first while our eyes are protected and most of the time kept safe.

If we are the apple of God’s eye, that means He is going to protect us, , care for us and keep things from damaging us even when we are hit with awful things because He shield’s us.

I have a question for you to think about. When God looks at us, does He see His reflection in our eyes, and do we look at Jesus so intently that we are able to see ourselves in His eyes?

One more question; why did God put the star in the apple for us to find? What is the connection between the star in the apple and us being the apple of God’s eye? There was another star that we all know about...that star that lead the wise men to baby Jesus.  Perhaps the star in the apple was put there for us to find in order to tell the story of our being the apple of God's eye and thereby leading someone to Jesus.  Honestly though, I believe God put the star in the apple to remind us that He is starry-eyed over us!