Making Good Choices
Opening Song: "Choose the Right"
Opening Prayer:
Family Business:
Scripture or Quote: "Choose you this day whom ye will serve, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Josh. 24: 15
Lesson:
This is Nathan. (Display a laminated clip-art picture of a boy. I downloaded mine from
here. You can print the following document to use:
Download Boy it's just a Word doc you can print and laminate, although I am not even laminating it, just putting it into a protective sleeve!!)
One day, Nathan's mother told him to take the garbage cans out to the curb so the garbage men could
empty
them, and to please remember to put the lids on tightly to make sure
the dogs didn't get in the trash. Nathan took the cans out, but ran off
to play with his friends...never stopping to put the lids on securely.
A couple of hours later, Nathan came home. He found papers, watermelon
rinds, and other trash all over the yard.
How do you think
Nathan felt? Because he disobeyed his mother, Nathan felt unhappy. He
knew that by doing something wrong, it was as if he had dirtied his
spirit. (smear some peanut butter on the boy.)
Nathan sometimes
helped his mother with work around the house. He really tried to be
good, but sometimes it was difficult. One time he and his brother both
wanted to play with the same toy. They yelled at each other and hit one
another. Nathan won because he was bigger, but he had hit his brother
and hurt his arm.
What did Nathan do wrong? What do you think
happened to Nathan's spirit when he did this? (Smear some more peanut
butter on the boy and explain that his spirit doesn't look very good
anymore because it has been smudged.)
One day, Nathan left
school late. as he was leaving, he noticed how cold it was getting. He
saw a scarf hanging on a hook by the door. It would help him keep warm
on the way home. Nathan took the scarf. He knew it was not his, but no
one saw him take it, and he could return it in the morning.
What
was Nathan doing wrong? Because he was borrowing something that
belonged to someone else, without asking, he was adding another smudge
to his spirit. (Add some more peanut butter.)
The next morning
Nathan had to hurry to school, and he forgot the scarf. The teacher
told the class that a scarf that belonged to one of the children was
missing. She asked if anyone knew where it was. No one said a word.
Nathan felt bad because he had taken the scarf and had forgotten to
return it. after the other children left, the teacher asked Nathan if
he had seen the scarf. Nathan did not want anyone to know what he had
done, so he told her he had not seen it.
How did Nathan make his
problem bigger? How was Nathan feeling now? By lying, Nathan made
himself unhappier. (smear more peanut butter on the boy.)
None
of the smears that are on Nathan's spirit are too dirty for Nathan to
clean up. How can Nathan feel happier and clean his spirit? (By
repenting.)
To clean his spirit, Nathan needs to repent for
disobeying his mother. What must Nathan do to repent? (Go through the
steps of repentance {feel sorry, tell the truth, ask for forgiveness, fix the problem, stop doing it}, relating to this mistake. Clean away some of the
peanut from the boy.)
What must Nathan do to repent from
being unkind to his brother? (Go through the steps of repentance and
remove more peanut butter.)
How can Nathan repent for
borrowing something without asking? (Go through the steps of repentance
and remove more peanut butter.)
What must Nathan do for not telling the truth? (Go through the steps of repentance and remove the remaining peanut butter.)
How do you think Nathan felt after he repented of his mistakes? How did repentance change Nathan's spirit?
When
we repent, we free ourselves of sad feelings and we make our spirits
clean and pure like they were when we first came to earth when we were
born
Activity: This is included in the peanut butter story. We will let our kids help put the peanut butter on and wipe it off... We talked about how making good choices is best, but when we mess up/make a mistake, repentance is a gift from Heavenly Father that can make us happy and clean again.
Treat: Strawberry Shortcake
ETA: Lesson Idea found HERE! A great little website!