ACTIVITY: Clothe Yourself
WHAT YOU NEED:
Timer and random pieces of clothing: gloves, hats, scarves, pants, socks, shoes, shirts, etc. The more variety, the better.
What You Do
Tell your child that you’re going to have a contest. You’ll set a timer for three minutes and see who can put on the most items of clothing before the timer goes off.
Say, “Let’s see who can clothe themselves with the most clothing in three minutes. Put on as many layers as you can fit. Each piece of clothing is worth one point. After three minutes, we’ll see who has the most points.”
Play the game and then tally the points. Enlist your child’s help to put everything back where it belongs.
Talk about the Bible Story
Look up and read this month’s memory verse, Colossians 3:12.
What did our activity have in common with that verse? (The verse says to “put on tender mercy and kindness as if they were your clothes.”)
What does it mean to “clothe yourself” with kindness?
Who in our story today “clothed themselves” with kindness? What did they do to be kind to others?
(Ruth chose to stay with Naomi. Boaz allowed Ruth to gather food. Ruth and Boaz invited Naomi to live with them.)
Why is it sometimes harder to be kind to the people we see all the time . . . and easier to be kind to people we don’t know very well?
Parents, talk about a time when you struggled to be kind to a close friend, or someone in your family.
Prayer
Use this prayer as a guide, either after your discussion or right before bed tonight:
“God, thank You for Your never-ending, great big love for us. We know that no matter how many times we mess up, You ALWAYS choose to love and show kindness to us. This week, someone in our family or one of our close friends WILL bug or frustrate us, and we WILL be tempted to do something to bug or frustrate them right back. Help us to show Your kindness instead—even when it’s the last thing we want to do. We love You. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.”