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.
“The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.”
2 Thessalonians 3:5
My dear friends in Thessalonica,
I have received your letter. I understand that you are wondering about when Jesus will come again, and what we should do while we are waiting. Thank you for sharing your concerns with me. I have been thinking of you, reading your letter again and again. Here is what I can tell you:
I do not know. I do not know when Jesus will come again. I wish that Jesus was here with us now. I wish that he could comfort us and help us. But he is not here, and I do not know when he will return.
So now we are waiting. And waiting is very, very difficult.
I have begun to think that waiting is part of following Jesus. Waiting can turn into loving when it is done with faith. Because when we trust in Jesus, we are not afraid anymore. We can relax into his love. And then the waiting isn’t so much about looking out the window and wondering when things will be okay, waiting is about enjoying the beauty of right now and knowing that things already are okay.
So, my friends, relax into love. Don’t worry about doing good things in case Jesus comes back tomorrow. Just enjoy doing good things because they fill you with joy and kindness. When you feel tired of doing right, ask yourself who you are performing for. Then breathe, and smile, and laugh, and start over. Doing good should not be a burden.
Jesus can guide your hearts into the love of God. When we wait with trust, we are doing the work of love. This is what peace looks like. Waiting, trusting, loving.
The Lord of peace be with you all.
Love,
Paul
Ideas for Play
Contributed by Kristen
- What is the second coming? What does your family believe about a second coming of Jesus? Discuss!
- Read these books about waiting
- Sensory investigations:
- What does peace feel like?
- What does peace look like?
- What does peace smell like?
- What does peace taste like?
- What does peace sound like?
- Create art or otherwise play with these categories to try to more deeply understand and feel into what peace is and where to find it and feel it in your bodies.
Poetry
Compiled by Caroline
Waiting
by John Burroughs
Serene, I fold my hands and wait,
Nor care for wind, nor tide, nor sea;
I rave no more ‘gainst time or fate,
For lo! my own shall come to me.
I stay my haste, I make delays,
For what avails this eager pace?
I stand amid the eternal ways,
And what is mine shall know my face.
Asleep, awake, by night or day,
The friends I seek are seeking me;
No wind can drive my bark astray,
Nor change the tide of destiny.
What matter if I stand alone?
I wait with joy the coming years;
My heart shall reap where it hath sown,
And garner up its fruit of tears.
The waters know their own and draw
The brook that springs in yonder height;
So flows the good with equal law
Unto the soul of pure delight.
The stars come nightly to the sky;
The tidal wave unto the sea;
Nor time, nor space, nor deep, nor high,
Can keep my own away from me.
Art
Compiled by Caroline
Here are two LDS Artists’ interpretations of the idea of Second Coming. How do you picture the Second Coming?
Music
Compiled by Caroline
When He Comes Again, Mormon Guitar
https://spotify.link/WqX7TFgeNDb
Psalm 130:5-6, Verses
I Will Wait For You, Shane & Shane
milk & honey mamas 
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