Teaching the valiants
My first attempt at teaching my older primary kids, on my first Sunday back since December...now what to do? I know...let's start from the beginning: The Restoration, Joseph Smith, The Epistle of James, What is true? What is knowledge? How do we acquire it? Who do we ask?
I figured that for kids that are baptismal age or past that, these are important things to know. So I asked, what do you know? What is wisdom?... Complete silence. That's what I thought. So, we took verses 5 and 6 and started talking about what the Lord expects from us, when we ask for things.
I went in thinking that I didn't have much, but maybe I did or the Spirit had something very different in store for them? Let's look at the Epistle of James, chapter1 verse 5. I didn't exactly know where it was going, but I knew prayer was an essential component of the discussion and so was hangman (that was the ticket). These kids were a blast!
Here's what came from all of it:
What is wisdom? Knowledge
Who do we ask? God
How do we ask?Faithfully
The means by which we ask? Prayer
So what does it mean to know? It means that we have an understanding of how it works in our life and that it's real? Well then, my ten year olds, what is real? How do you KNOW? I don't. Have you asked? No. What can we ask about? ANYTHING. Do we know that there is a God? yes. How? Silence. See? These are the foundations of faith. Let's go backwards. What is unwavering faith? Or better yet, What is Faith?
Here's what my kids came up with as synonyms to faith:
Belief and knowledge (very important words)
I love philosophical discussions, they lend themselves to a broadened perspective of things.
My kids and I then created a diagram. They asked questions like, can God answer all of our prayers simultaneously? I said yes! Because His glory is like the sun, it can reach all parts of the world that are facing it at the same time. As long you are facing the sun, you are all seeing the exact same sun and are receiving all the same rays, but where we are in the world determines how much sun we're actually exposed to because of location and atmospheric differences: like trees and clouds and mountains can shade the rays from us. The diagram ended up like this:
We have a question, which leads us to prayer; we pray to Heavenly Father, in the name of his Son, which is the medium by which we communicate with Him, because we can do nothing with God unless it's through the Saviour first; If we pray to God, we show Faith in Him and it is through that measure of faith that our prayers are answered. So, I asked them to go home and pray to KNOW about something and we'll report back next week. It was such a simple yet deep concept that I know the kids fully grasped. It helped me learn so much as well. We also talked about the opposite of faith: doubt. Then I said, well if God is light and, in the scriptures, light is knowledge, then what is doubt? darkness. Can there be dark in light? OF COURSE NOT! I am impressed by these kid's critical thinking skills. Therefore, why are we not asking more often and the answer was clear, there is not enough faith and that is true because we don't know God enough and therefore our doubt in Him makes us like the waves, sometimes weak and sometimes strong. He knows us but we don't know Him and that is the most important relationship to have. The end.
Love always, Fix it.
I figured that for kids that are baptismal age or past that, these are important things to know. So I asked, what do you know? What is wisdom?... Complete silence. That's what I thought. So, we took verses 5 and 6 and started talking about what the Lord expects from us, when we ask for things.
I went in thinking that I didn't have much, but maybe I did or the Spirit had something very different in store for them? Let's look at the Epistle of James, chapter1 verse 5. I didn't exactly know where it was going, but I knew prayer was an essential component of the discussion and so was hangman (that was the ticket). These kids were a blast!
Here's what came from all of it:
What is wisdom? Knowledge
Who do we ask? God
How do we ask?Faithfully
The means by which we ask? Prayer
So what does it mean to know? It means that we have an understanding of how it works in our life and that it's real? Well then, my ten year olds, what is real? How do you KNOW? I don't. Have you asked? No. What can we ask about? ANYTHING. Do we know that there is a God? yes. How? Silence. See? These are the foundations of faith. Let's go backwards. What is unwavering faith? Or better yet, What is Faith?
Here's what my kids came up with as synonyms to faith:
Belief and knowledge (very important words)
I love philosophical discussions, they lend themselves to a broadened perspective of things.
My kids and I then created a diagram. They asked questions like, can God answer all of our prayers simultaneously? I said yes! Because His glory is like the sun, it can reach all parts of the world that are facing it at the same time. As long you are facing the sun, you are all seeing the exact same sun and are receiving all the same rays, but where we are in the world determines how much sun we're actually exposed to because of location and atmospheric differences: like trees and clouds and mountains can shade the rays from us. The diagram ended up like this:
We have a question, which leads us to prayer; we pray to Heavenly Father, in the name of his Son, which is the medium by which we communicate with Him, because we can do nothing with God unless it's through the Saviour first; If we pray to God, we show Faith in Him and it is through that measure of faith that our prayers are answered. So, I asked them to go home and pray to KNOW about something and we'll report back next week. It was such a simple yet deep concept that I know the kids fully grasped. It helped me learn so much as well. We also talked about the opposite of faith: doubt. Then I said, well if God is light and, in the scriptures, light is knowledge, then what is doubt? darkness. Can there be dark in light? OF COURSE NOT! I am impressed by these kid's critical thinking skills. Therefore, why are we not asking more often and the answer was clear, there is not enough faith and that is true because we don't know God enough and therefore our doubt in Him makes us like the waves, sometimes weak and sometimes strong. He knows us but we don't know Him and that is the most important relationship to have. The end.
Love always, Fix it.
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