Everyday object lessons

Elaborating on a story by Wayne Dyer.

Have the class, or your family stand up with the goal of jumping as high as they can. Maybe have a goal on the wall or doorway or something to measure how high to jump. In the first situation, no one can bend their knees before they jump – not even a little! So basically you can only go on your tiptoes. You just can’t propel yourself into their air without bending your knees first.

Next have them bend their knees just a little bit and jump again and notice how much higher they can jump then finally allow the students to jump as high as they possibly can and bend as much as they desire.

Point out to them that the only way to reach and jump high is to bend low first. So when we are brought low with trials or difficulties we must remember that it takes that bending low to propel us higher. If we are brought low with trials, then we can build sufficient faith and trust in God so he can lift us to a higher spiritual place. There are many stories in the scriptures then that can illustrate this story. Have this lesson go along with whatever book of scripture you are working with.

Everyone needs a survival kit, one to remind them of something beyond the everyday traps we fall into.

• Toothpick
• Rubber band
• Band aid
• Pencil
• Eraser
• Chewing gum
• Mint
• Candy Kiss

Here’s why:

• Toothpick – to remind you to pick out the good qualities in others…Matt 7:1
• Rubber band – to remind you to be flexible, things might not always go the way you want, but it will work out…Romans 8:28
• Band Aid – to remind you to heal hurt feelings, yours or someone else’s…Col 3:12-14
• Pencil – To remind you to list your blessings everyday…Eph1:3
• Eraser – to remind you that everyone makes mistakes, and it’s okay…Gen 50:15-21
• Chewing gum – to remind you to stick with it and you can accomplish anything with Jesus…Phil 4:13
• Mint – to remind you that you are worth a mint to your heavenly father…John 3:16-17
• Candy Kiss – to remind you that everyone needs a kiss or a hug everyday… 1 John 4:7
• Use your imagination to come up with more of these!And send your ideas to me so I can add to the list

There was a man who was asleep one night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light and the Savior appeared. The Lord told him he had a work for him to do, and showed him a large rock, explaining that he was to push against the rock with all his might. This the man did, and for many days he toiled from sunup tp sundown; his shoulder set squarely against the cold massive surface of the rock, pushing with all his might. Each night the man returned to the cabin sore and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.

Seeing that the man was showing signs of discouragement, Satan decided to enter the picture – placing thoughts in the man’s mind, such as -Why kill yourself over this, you’re never going to move it. or, Boy, you’ve been at it a long time and you haven’t even scratched the surface, etc. Giving the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was an unworthy servant because he wasn’t moving the massive stone. These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man and he started to ease up in his efforts.

Why kill myself? he thought, I’ll just put in my time, putting forth just the minimum of effort and that will be good enough. And that he did, or at least planned on doing until one day he decided to take his troubles to the Lord. Lord, he said, I have labored hard and long in your service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked me. Yet, after all this time, I have not even budged that rock half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?

To this the Lord responded compassionately, My friend,…when long ago I asked you to serve me and you accepted, I told you to push against the rock with all your strength, and you have done that. But never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it, at least not by yourself. You task was to push and now you come to me, your strength spent, thinking that you have failed and are ready to quit.

But is that really so? Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, you back sinewed and brown. Your hands are callused from constant pressure and your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition, you have grown much and your ability now far surpasses that which you used to have. Yet still, you haven’t succeeded in moving the rock; and you come to me now with a heavy heart and your strength spent.

I, my friend, will move the rock. Your calling was to be obedient and to push, and to exercise your faith and trust in my wisdom…and THIS YOU HAVE DONE.

When I was a little boy, my mother used to embroider a great deal. I would sit at her knee and look up from the floor and ask what she was doing. She informed me that she was embroidering. I told her that it looked like a mess from where I was. As from the underside I watched her work within the boundaries of the little round hoop that she held in her hand, I complained to her that it sure looked messy from where I sat. She would smile at me, look down and gently say, “My son, you go about your playing for awhile, and when I am finished with my embroidering, I will put you on my knee and let you see it from my side.”

I would wonder why she was using some dark threads along with the bright ones and why they seemed so jumbled from my view. A few minutes would pass and then I would hear Mother’s voice say, “Son, come and sit on my knee.” This I did only to be surprised and thrilled to see a beautiful flower or a sunset. I could not believe it, because from underneath it looked so messy. Then Mother would say to me, “My son, from underneath it did look messy and jumbled, but you did not realize that there was a pre-drawn plan on the top. It was a design. I was only following it. Now look at it from my side and you will see what I was doing.”

Many times through the years I have looked up to my Heavenly Father and said, “Father, what are You doing?” He has answered, “I am embroidering your life.” I say, “But it looks like a mess to me. It seems so jumbled. The threads seem so dark. Why can’t they all be bright?” The Father seems to tell me, “‘My child, you go about your business of doing My business, and one day I will bring you to Heaven and put you on My knee and you will see the plan from My side.” Author Unknown

Take a spool of thread and wrap it once or twice around the volunteer’s fingers or wrists. Have them break the thread. This represents bad habits. When we first begin a bad habit like smoking, or even something as simple as watching an inappropriate t.v. show or using foul language, it is easy to break. Now wrap the thread around many many times and see if the volunteer can break the thread. If we let bad habits go on and on, we lose the power to easily return to something better. It requires more will power and may require help from someone else. Don’t give up your freedom and power by remaining in your bad habits.

The useful part of a pencil is in the middle. And in order for it to be useful, something sharp has to wear away the outer covering. Let’s compare that to a humble heart that is found in each of us. In order to be of the most use as a servant of God, we must scrape away our pride and arrogance.

Roses that are grown in a hot-house are very beautiful but they don’t have much of that inticing rose fragrance. Why is that? Hot houses roses don’t have to develop a heavy scent to attract bees in order to flourish. They are fed, watered, and watched over by the gardener, all in perfect conditions. Roses outside face harsher conditions with the wind, rain, cold, heat, and bugs. Outside, roses must develop the strong rose scent in order to attract the bees. They are both beautiful to see and to smell. If we lived under perfect conditions, we might look beatiful, but it is those who are tempered in the heat of the Lord’s oven of adversity who become beatiful spiritually.