"Are you a drain or a fountain?"

Tigers Christian Club -- Lesson for Wednesday, October 3, 2018
Adapted from “Are you a drain or a fountain?” from Kids Honor Club from Biblical Parenting

Intro and follow-up questions: We’ve been talking about what honor means and how we can show honor to our families.  Honor means treating people as special. It also means doing more than what’s expected and having a good attitude.  Did you find ways to treat others as special this week? Did anyone treat you as special?

Demo: Blow up a balloon and explain that “a family is like this balloon.  It takes a certain amount of air to make things work smoothly.” When we leave messes or hurt each other we drain the air and energy out of our families.  But when we do extra things to make the family better, that shows honor and adds energy to the family -- things like cleaning up messes, talking nicely to each other, helping each other, talking through problems, and smiling.  Remember the example last week of the perfume? When we are kind to each other then the whole family benefits.

Things that let the air out: whining, complaining, arguing, being mean, having a bad attitude
Things that fill the balloon: cleaning up messes, talking nicely to each other, helping each other, talking through problems, sharing, cleaning up your toys and smiling

Skits:

1. Pair a “parent” with a “child” -- have the parent make a request to fold the towels (bring towels and laundry basket)
   
   1. Bad attitude: refusing, complaining about the task, trying to make a sibling do it instead
      
   2. Good attitude: obeying first, doing the task the best they can, and showing honor by doing something extra like putting the towels away after they are folded
      
2. Pair a “parent” with a “child” -- have the parent make a request to set the table (bring plastic cutlery, napkins, cups)
   1. Bad attitude: refusing, complaining about the task, trying to make a sibling do it instead
   2. Good attitude: obeying first, doing the task the best they can, and showing honor by doing something extra like making sure everyone also has a drink of water or milk

We’ve talked about many examples of showing honor.  “God loves honor and even rewards those who give it to others.”  And sometimes God is the only one who sees what we do. Let’s do one more skit.

1. Say you’ve just finished your bath.  Your mom has left a towel for you next to the tub where you can reach it and a choices of clothes nearby.  What should you do before you leave the bathroom?
   1. Bad attitude: dry off quickly and leave the towel on the floor, get dressed but leave the extra clothes in the bathroom
   2. Good attitude: wipe up any splashed water, hang the towel back on the hook, put dirty clothes in the hamper, return clean clothes to where they belong in the bedroom

Story: 2 Kings 5, told in paraphrase (quotes are from the Kids Honor Club curriculum):

Now I want to tell you a Bible story about a child who showed honor.  Today’s story is from the Old Testament in the book of 2 Kings, chapter 5.  It starts by describing a man named Naaman who was the general of a big army.  He won many battles, but he was sick with leprosy. This was sad because there was no way for him to get rid of the leprosy and be well again.

“Naaman’s wife had a servant girl who worked for her...doing chores around the house.  She knew Naaman was sick and worried that he wouldn’t get well. This girl also knew about a prophet named Elisha who could heal people.  The servant girl knew that if Naaman went to Elisha, God would do something great.

“What should she do?  Should she just do her chores and think about the things she needed to do around the house, or should she help Naaman?

“Well, the girl decided she would help.  It was a very important decision. She went to Naaman’s wife and told her about Elisha the prophet and how God could heal Naaman.  When Naaman heard this good news, he went to...talk with Elisha. ...He was excited because he thought Elisha would heal him. But it didn’t happen the way he thought it would.

“Elisha gave Naaman a dirty job to do.  He told Naaman to go and wash himself in the dirty Jordan River.”  Naaman didn’t want to do that. He was already sick. He didn’t want to dip himself in dirty water!  Naaman’s servants encouraged him to go though, and he finally did. In fact, he washed himself seven times in the river as Elisha asked.  When he came out of the water the last time his leprosy was gone. God had done a miracle, and Naaman was happy. And I’ll bet he was happy the servant girl told him about Elisha.  She did more than what was expected of her and God used her in an exciting way. And Naaman listened to God’s instruction even though he didn’t want to do something messy like wash in a dirty river!

What about the time when we do things show honor to our family and nobody even notices?  We need to remember that God notices.”

Bible verse: The Bible says:  “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them...Your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”  Those are verses from Matthew 6:1,4. Can you say that with me?

Closing:  Let’s review now what we’ve learned today.
--Do you remember what the balloon showed us?  It reminds us that we can add energy to our homes and families by doing more than what is expected and having a good attitude.
--This week I want to challenge you to look for extra things at home that you could help with.  Even if no one notices, God does, and he loves honor.
--Let’s pray and then there are two activities you can do.

Prayer:  Dear God, Thank you for the story of the servant girl who helped Naaman.  Help us to be like the little servant girl and do more than what’s expected.  Amen.

Create a goody bag for your family: Balloons remind me of a party, so today we are going to create honor goody bags.  On the pieces of paper I want you to write one nice thing about each person in your family.  You can write more than that if you want. If you can’t write yet you can draw small pictures of your family.  Notes might say “I like my family”, “My family is special,” or “Our family makes a great team.” Honor means doing more than what’s expected.  And showing honor to each other adds energy to our family balloon and delights everyone. I want you to see how you delight others, so in addition to your wonderful notes I’m going to put candies in your bags, one for each person in your family.  When your mom says it’s okay, I want you to give your gifts to your family when everyone is together -- for example, maybe just after dinner. To encourage you to wait to share your honor goody bag I’m going to staple the top of it closed when you are finished adding your notes.

Balloon volleyball activity: Use a blanket to divide the area in two.  Encourage kids to bop the balloons back and forth.  Look for honoring comments and actions on part of the children and point out ways they can help others have fun, making it fun for everyone (I.e., using encouraging words, sharing, fetching balloons that go astray…).