Proverbs-communicating well

December 12, 2016December 12, 2016 ~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hi all. This will be our last lesson in Proverbs for now (of course there are MANY more verses and themes you could explore with your kids in Proverbs…OR there are 31 chapters, so you could start a family habit of reading one chapter each night of the month.)

As we read through Proverbs, we are learning about making wise choices. We have learned how to obey our parents and learn from them, we have learned that giving and helping others is a very good choice and today our last lesson will be about communicating well.

Do you know what it means to communicate? Communicate is when you talk or interact with someone else. The Bible has a lot to say about how we talk to other people.

Proverbs:

10:19: Too much talk leads to sin. Be sensible and keep your mouth shut.

12:18: Some people like to make cutting remarks, but the words of the wise soothe and heal.

12:13-14: Lies will get any man into trouble, but honesty is its own defense. Telling the truth gives a man great satisfaction, and hard work returns many blessings to him.

15:1: A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

15:4: Gentle words cause life and health; griping brings discouragement.

15:26: The Lord hates the thoughts of the wicked but delights in kind words.

16:23-24: From a wise mind comes wise speech; the words of the wise are persuasive. Kind words are like honey—sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.

17:27-28: A truly wise person uses few words; a person with understanding is even-tempered. Even fools are thought wise when they keep silent; with their mouths shut, they seem intelligent.

18:2: Fools have no interest in understanding; they only want to air their own opinions.

18:7: A fool gets into constant fights. His mouth is his undoing! His words endanger him.

20:15: Wise words are more valuable than much gold and many rubies.

29:20: There is more hope for a fool than for someone who speaks without thinking.

What do these verses say about how we communicate with other people?

They say we should:

THINK about what we say before we say it. There is cute little saying floating around pinterest:

64685-before-you-speak-think-printables

Before we talk to others we can think about the things we say. Is what I want to say true? Helpful? Inspiring? Necessary? Kind?

2. Not get angry quickly, but LISTEN to other people before. Sometimes your friends will feel differently than you and that’s ok…it’s important to listen to each other so you can understand how he/she feels.

3. When we use NICE words, they are like a good bandaid. If someone is sad, your nice words can help them feel better!

4. If we use angry words, it might cause more trouble. Again…let’s THINK about what we say and how that might make other people feel.

And Proverbs says that using nice words is like sweet tasting honey, like golden apples, like medicine, and like gold and rubies…treasures! Our words can hurt peoples’ feelings OR help them feel better. When we obey God, we will LISTEN to others and THINK about our words so that they can be GOOD and helpful.

Thanks again for joining us. Love to you all!

Controlling your tongue

June 14, 2016 ~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hi all! Welcome back…this lesson is from James 3.

HERE is our lesson from last year.

Do you know what self-control is? It’s when you can control yourself…when you can make good choices on your own. Do you know what the hardest part of your body to control is? The Bible says it is our tongue. (The words we say.)

When we get angry or sad, it is really easy to say mean, angry things…and hard to wait and NOT say something. When we use our words, we can make someone feel better, or feel sad.
Using our words to be nice to other people is one way to show God’s love. But sometimes we sing songs for God, and then later say mean things to our parents, sister, brother or friend. We can’t use our mouth and tongue to say “I love you God!” but then use our mouth in a way that DOESN’T show God’s love.

But God will help us! When we ask Him, He will help us use our tongues in a nice way–using nice words that bring people closer to God; words that make people feel better, not sad.

Do you know if you light a match it can start a great BIG fire?! If you use your tongue to tell a lie, sometimes that leads to more lies and more people get hurt or in trouble and before long, it’s like a big big fire too–lots of people being sad and in trouble, because you said one little lie.

The things we say last a long time. Have you ever had someone say something mean to you? You still remember that don’t you? When we use mean words with other people, it stays with them. That sadness stays with them. That’s not very loving is it?

The more time we spend reading the Bible and talking to God, the better we will be at using loving words and controlling our tongues. The Bible says no one can be perfect, but God will help us have self-control over our words.
So next time you feel angry, or scared and want to lie, or sad and want to say something mean.. you can take a break…ask God to help you use loving words, and control your tongue.

For our craft today we rounded up a paper plate, some googly eyes, a long strip of crepe paper and two strips of construction paper.

We folded the paper plate in half, glued the eyes on top and stapled the strips to the bottom and top. Then we glued just the end of the crepe paper strip on the inside of the paper plate and it made a face with a loooooooong tongue.

The construction paper becomes the handles for our hands to make a puppet.

You can stuff the tongue into the face and then open the mouth and the long tongue falls out!

Thanks again for joining us. Love to you all!

Taming the Tongue

June 7, 2015June 7, 2015 ~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hello again!

As a reminder for the month of June we are studying the teachings of the New Testament in the Bible. These are things that Jesus’ disciples and followers wrote down after listening to God and He would tell them what to say. Some of these come from letters that they wrote to different people and churches.

So today we’ll be learning about “taming the tongue.”

What does that mean?! We use our tongues and our mouths to talk to people all day long. We can use our tongues to say nice things and encourage other people, or we can use our tongues to tell lies, or to be mean to other people. We have to learn to use our tongues in a way that makes God happy…that’s called “taming your tongue” or teaching it to be used for good.

In Proverbs (18:21) the Bible says that the tongue has the power of life or death. That means that with our words, we can bring hope and happiness to others, or we can make their hearts sad. We can use our words to tell other people about Jesus and that REALLY can bring new life!

In James 3 it reminds us that one tiny part of the boat can steer the whole thing! And one small spark or match can set a whole forest on fire. Just like that, our tongues can control everything we do and can affect a lot of other people too! When we control our tongues we stop before we yell. And we stop before we say something mean about somebody else. When we tame our tongue we ALWAYS thank God and tell others we love them.

James tells us that its impossible to always control our tongues. No one can do it perfectly!? But we should try!!

In the book called Colossians (4:6), Paul said “Let your conversation be full of grace and seasoned with salt.” Seasoned with salt??? Well, when you want to eat tasty food, sometimes your mom or dad can put some salt on it to make it taste good. Proverbs tell us that sweet words are yummy to our souls. When we speak to other people, we should use nice words, and gentleness.

Because, in Matthew (12:34) Jesus said “Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” That means whatever is in your heart, is what you will say. If you have a happy heart that loves God, then you will use your tongue for good. If you have an angry heart, or you only think about what’s good for YOU, then your words will be yucky and NOT help other people.

Proverbs 21:23 says that whoever can control what he says, will keep himself out of trouble! And lastly, in the book of Ephesians (4:29), it says to let no yucky talk come out of your mount, but only say things that help other people and that praise God.

There are a LOT of verses about using nice words, aren’t there? That must mean God thinks it’s REALLY important!

What are some things you say that are NOT good?

What are some things you can say that will make other people feel happy?

*You can ask your child “What does mommy..or daddy..etc say that makes you feel happy? What does mommy say that makes you feel sad?” (If the answer is “no” you can remind them that it’s because you love them that you say no sometimes…to keep them safe or healthy. Then maybe share with your kids some of the things they say that make you happy or sad. Pray together to do a better job controlling your tongues.

For our craft, we drew a face and glued on a giant foam tongue.