When I was a kid (I had to be around 8 or 9 years old) we took a week long vacation to the Augusta, GA area. We stayed in the middle of no-where in a kind of "all inclusive" place. They had a pool, lake, hiking trails, putt-putt, and that's about it. So you can imagine that as kids my brothers and I got bored pretty quick. My parents made the best of it...we hiked a lot it seemed like. On the hikes my dad, a 4H leader and Agriculture teacher, began to teach us how to identify trees by their bark and leaves. All of the sudden as we were walking along dad would stop our pace to a halt to learn about a particular species of tree. After a while our family's sarcasm morphed this activity into a joke. My brother and I began to make fun of our dad. We would lead the hike and suddenly halt the pace as we yelled "IDENTIFY!" while pointing to a tree. Then we would make up random facts about the tree that we had no clue about. My mom and dad were laughing so hard they were in tears. We still talk about this when we get together. When we get together as a family this story will almost always come back up.
The truth is all around us there are things God provides we don't know about or recognize. What we need is someone to come along and tell us to "IDENTIFY!" the individual trees in the forest of provision God has placed us in. Now that it's cold and your kids will be inside more, make the most of it. Have them make a list of all the things they can think of that God has provided for them. It won't take them 5 minutes before they're done. I bet there will be things on it that you haven't recognized yet. This activity is designed to help kids recognize and be thankful for what has been provided to them by God before we enter the holiday season.
This week's details:
Scripture: Genesis 50
Life Point: God gives you everything you need.
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