milk & honey mamas

Story contributed by Kristen

Click here for the theological background

Remember, repetition helps children internalize and make connections. It might be a good idea to read the same story every day for a week. You can add different activities every day.

“Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”

2 Corinthians 13:11-14

My dear friends in Corinth,

I have a few more things to say. When things are hard—and I know things have been hard between us—what should we do? 

Let us remember Jesus. He came to earth and really loved us. He was poor, he was hungry and thirsty, he felt pain. He was a person, and he knows what it feels like to be a person. He did this for our sake. When we remember this, we let ourselves be filled up with love, and patience. This is also called grace. It helps us pause before we get angry with each other. It helps us remember that we are all trying. I am trying too, and I need grace too. I need patience, love, and kindness. 

God’s great gift to us is the gift of love and grace. God is patient with us. God does not get angry when we make mistakes. God knows our hearts, and loves how hard we try. We are humans, but we do not need to be angry with our bodies. We can love our bodies, and be proud of our efforts and hard work. 

My friends, let us find joy together. Let us remember how happy we are when we are united, working together, trying, and forgiving each others’ mistakes. Let us live in peace, so that we may be filled with peace. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

With love,

Paul

Ideas for Play

Contributed by Kristen

• How do we respond to each other when we make mistakes? How do we respond to ourselves when we make mistakes? Role play some possible reactions with kids’ “worry voices” and “kind voices”

• How does God respond when we make mistakes?

• Read The Book of Mistakes

• Play “how big is God’s love?” Big enough for Mother Gothel? For a cockroach? A tarantula? Etc. 

• What is grace? How can we have grace for each other?

• Read God’s Big Grace (@forlittlesaints)

• What are some ways you can show grace to your family members? What about people you struggle to get along with, or a pet that bothers you?
  

Poetry

Compiled by Caroline

The Mistake

By James Fenton

With the mistake your life goes in reverse.

Now you can see exactly what you did

Wrong yesterday and wrong the day before

And each mistake leads back to something worse

And every nuance of your hypocrisy

Towards yourself, and every excuse

Stands solidly on the perspective lines

And there is perfect visibility.

What an enlightenment. The colonnade

Rolls past on either side. You needn’t move.

The statues of your errors brush your sleeve.

You watch the tale turn back — and you’re dismayed.

And this dismay at this, this big mistake

Is made worse by the sight of all those who

Knew all along where these mistakes would lead —

Those frozen friends who watched the crisis break.

Why didn’t they say? Oh, but they did indeed —

Said with a murmur when the time was wrong

Or by a mild refusal to assent

Or told you plainly but you would not heed.

Yes, you can hear them now. It hurts. It’s worse

Than any sneer from any enemy.

Take this dismay. Lay claim to this mistake.

Look straight along the lines of this reverse.”

Artwork

Compiled by Caroline

The artwork below is an example of the Japanese technique, kintsugi. The dictionary definition of kintsugi is that it is a traditional Japanese pottery repair technique in which lacquer mixed with precious metals, especially gold, is used to fill cracks and replace missing pieces.” The brokenness of the pottery is made into something beautiful. In a similar way, our brokenness is beautified through Christ. He heals our cracks, our mistakes, and our brokenness into wholeness through His redeeming grace. How have you experienced God’s grace and forgiveness when you have made a mistake?

Kintsugi Pottery

Music

Compiled by Caroline

Dare to Do Right, Kristen Nelson