You begin the lesson in the usual way and then help the children to continue memorizing the prayer introduced in the last lesson.
[What are some of the feelings that you have when someone hurts you or breaks something of yours? (Invite answers from kids: angry, sad, frustrated, helpless, etc.) Part of forgiving someone is recognizing those feelings, letting them happen, and then letting them pass so that you can move on. One way to help your feelings move on is to let them out—in a healthy way.
- What happens if you hold all of those feelings inside and stay sad or angry, or if you tuck those feelings away somewhere inside your heart? (Blow some air into a balloon.) This air is like anger or sadness that comes into us.
- If we let it out each time we feel angry or sad, it’s not such a big deal—just a little air comes out and we’re back to normal. (Let air out of balloon.)
- But if we keep it inside, and keep adding to it each time we get upset and hold it in (blow into balloon several more times) then what happens? What will the balloon do if we keep blowing into it.
- And watch what happens when I let it go. (Balloon deflates and flies all over room.)
- It’s pretty out of control. If you hold all your anger inside for a long time, it might all come out at once sometime, and you could have a much bigger reaction than the situation calls for.]
Invite kids to give responses and act them out. Ask, “What does forgiveness look like when . . .”
• Your friend accidentally broke your favorite toy
• You did something you feel is very bad (forgiving yourself)
• Your brother takes something of yours without asking
• Your friend got angry and said something unkind to you and then apologized.
• Someone keeps doing something hurtful to you over and over without being sorry*
*There are some times when forgiveness won’t help someone change their behavior, and it isn’t the only virtue you need to call on. While you can let go of the hot feelings, you should also stay away from that person (if you can) and stop giving him or her the chance to hurt you. In these cases, respect for yourself and justice (making sure everyone is being treated fairly, including yourself) are just as important as forgiveness.
It is suggested that you present today’s quotation to the children by sharing with them the following ideas:
Forgiveness is one of the attributes of God. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá always told the friends to be forgiving with one another. We should see with eyes of forgiveness and not look at one anothers’ faults. If we follow ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s example, we will show forgiveness not only to our friends when they make mistakes but also to those who are unkind to us. To help us in our efforts to be forgiving, let us memorize the following quotation:
[Forgiveness means letting go of hard feelings like anger, sadness, or frustration that happen when you or someone else makes a mistake. It’s saying “Thank you” or “That’s okay” when someone apologizes and not staying upset about what they did. It’s having patience with yourself and others, and recognizing that no one is perfect—everyone makes mistakes. It’s letting go of hurt feelings, and moving ahead, ready to do things.It doesn’t mean that all of a sudden what someone did doesn’t hurt or isn’t wrong. It means that you find it in your heart to give the person another chance.]
“. . . let your adorning be forgiveness and mercy and that which cheereth the hearts of the well-favored of God.”
listen HERE
Cheer
1. Ursula was not feeling well. Her friend Elsie brought her flowers and sat with her for a long time, telling stories and talking. Elsie’s visit made Ursula feel much better. Ursula was cheered by her visit.
2. Mrs. Sanchez received a long letter from her husband who had gone away to a nearby town for work. The letter brought the good news that he would soon be coming home. The news greatly cheered her.
Favoured
1. The teacher loved all of her students and paid special attention to each one. She favoured them all.
2. James liked all of the subjects at school, but he did best in science. Science was the subject he favoured most.
[Then Peter came to him and asked, "Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?" "No, not seven times," Jesus replied, "but seventy times seven!" Matthew 18:21-22 (NLT)]
[Colossians 3:13 Bear with one another and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.]
[Quote activity - for memorization. Have each of the words hidden around the room - the children have to hunt to find the words and reassemble the quote for memorization]
During the days the Master lived in ‘Akká, there was a governor who, time and time again, tried to harm the Bahá’ís. On one occasion he came up with a plan to destroy their means of livelihood: he ordered his guards to close down the shops of all the Bahá’ís and to bring him the keys. But ‘Abdu’l-Bahá learned of the governor’s plan and advised the friends not to open their shops the next day. He told them to wait and see what God would ordain.
Imagine the governor’s surprise when he heard that his guards could not bring him the keys because the shops had not been opened. But before he could think of what to do next, something unexpected happened. A telegram arrived from his superiors dismissing him from his post as governor of the city. And so the shops of the Bahá’ís were saved. The ex-governor was ordered to leave ‘Akká and go to another city called Damascus. He did not know what to do. He had to leave quickly and alone. What would happen to his family? Who would help someone who had lost the favor of the government? The Master heard the news and went to see him. He showered the unhappy man with great kindness, as if he had never been an enemy of the Faith. Not once did He mention his past wrongdoings. Instead, He offered to help him in whatever way possible. The ex-governor was worried about leaving his wife and children behind. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá assured him that He would take care of the matter. Later He arranged for a comfortable trip, provided someone reliable to accompany the wife and children, paid for all the expenses, and sent the family on its way to Damascus.
When the ex-governor was reunited with his family, he rejoiced. With a heart filled with gratitude, he turned to the man who had traveled with his family and asked him about the cost of the journey. The man explained that it had been paid by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Then the ex-governor offered him a present for his kindness and diligence during the journey. But he would not accept the present; he said that he was merely obeying ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and did not wish to receive anything for his services. The ex-governor then asked the man to stay the night as a guest in his home. He said, however, that he was eager to follow the instructions of the Master, Who had told him to return to ‘Akká without delay. The ex-governor asked the man to wait at least long enough for him to write a letter to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. This he accepted and upon his return to ‘Akká delivered the letter to the Master. The letter read: “O ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, I pray you pardon me. I did not understand. I did not know you. I have wrought you great evil. You have rewarded me with great good.”
Tell the children to walk around randomly, while clapping and saying, “people to people”. When you call out “back to back”, they should stop, and each back up to a partner. On your signal, they start to move around again, clapping and saying “people to people”. When you call out “face to face”, they stop and each face a partner, bowing heads. The game continues in this way, with these two commands being repeated several times. Other commands can include “knee to knee” and “elbow to elbow”.
[Linking Up
- Stand in front of the room. You represent the first chain and the rest of the links will be on everyone's left. Ask aloud, "What is the meaning of forgiveness?" Encourage the children to speak up. Have the first brave child that answers come and link arms with you. Then ask, "Have you ever had to say sorry to your mum or dad?" The child that answers will link arms with the child on your left and so on.
Other questions you should ask are "What does it mean when you say, you're sorry?" or "How did you feel when you forgave someone?" Keep asking forgiveness questions until everyone is standing and linked arms. Move towards the child on the other end and link arms with him or her. This should complete your new circle of forgiveness.]
[Hot Potato
- Bring the children outside with a bright plastic ball or even a real potato as the prop for this game. Have everyone stand in a circle. Tell the children about a time when you forgave someone for something. Toss it to the child on your right and say, "Hot potato!" Now it's that person's turn to share with everyone how they forgave someone.]
[Game: “Hot Feeling” (like Hot Potato)
What are some of the things your body feels when you feel angry or frustrated? One thing is that you might get really hot. I call those feelings “hot feelings” because sometimes your face can get red, you might feel a burning feeling in your stomach, and you might even feel like a volcano full of hot lava! When you touch something hot, do you want to hold onto it? No! You want to let it go as quickly as you can.
- In this game, the ball is a “hot feeling.” Pass it around the circle while the music plays, letting it go as quickly as you can.
- When the music stops, whoever is holding the hot feeling has to keep holding it until the rest of the group says, “We’re sorry.”
- The person holding the ball puts it down and says, “That’s okay.”
- Then that person is out, and the game continues until only one player is left.]
http://www.plantlovegrow.com/my-virtues.html
?Original colouring picture
alternative craft
1. Make 2 planes hiding a penny in one. 2. They will look the same but not fly the same. Ask the children to look them over and figure out why. 3.Explain "the airplanes are like us and the penny is when we hold a grudge. A grudge is when we hold bad feelings inside of us because something someone did or said to us. These feelings can weigh us down and keep us from flying high."
Could do a forgiveness acrostic poem
Craft: Broken Heart Puzzle
Explain that when we practice forgiveness, we allow our heart to be healed from whatever hurt us. We also help heal the hearts of people who may have hurt us unintentionally. We’re going to make a heart, “break” it, and then put it back together again to show how forgiveness helps us heal.
- Have kids cut out a large heart from the cardstock.
- Kids draw a picture of themselves or something that makes them happy on the heart.
- Next, have them cut their heart into ten or twelve randomly shaped pieces. They now have a broken heart puzzle. Explain again how forgiveness helps us heal, and put the broken heart back together.
- Then trade with another student and see if you can heal their heart, too.
- Give each student an envelope or sandwich bag to hold their puzzle pieces.
Full PDF is below.
1. Cut out two hearts.
2. On one, have the quote you're memorizing written out, around around it, decoration or descriptions of a heart lifted by forgiveness.
3. On the other heart, have a description of forgiveness, could even use the "signs of success bullet points" on one side. On the other side, have a little pad of paper, where we can write things that we need for forgive others for (i.e. could brainstorm there and then if there's anyone we're holding grudges against). Tearing the page out of the pad represents having forgiven them.
4. The two hearts get glued together like you can see in the picture, and they fold over, get fastened with a paper clip so the default viewing page is that of the quote + decoration.
forgiveness.pdf |
11.pdf |
forgiveness_-_integrity_kids_lesson.pdf |
Forgiveness - From the Family Virtues Guide
What Is Forgiveness?
Everyone makes mistakes. Being forgiving is overlooking the mistakes others make and loving them just as much as before. Forgiving does not mean that all of a sudden you do not feel the hurt or that the wrong choice someone made was right. It means that you find it in your heart to give the person another chance.
It means that in spite of how wrong they were or how much they hurt you, you can overlook what they did and not hold it against them. Forgiveness means you don't punish people for what they have done even if they deserve it.
You can even forgive yourself. You sometimes do things that you are sorry for and wish you hadn't done. Forgiving yourself means to stop punishing yourself or feeling hopeless because you did something wrong. It is moving ahead, ready to do things differently, with compassion for yourself and faith that you can change.
Why Practice Forgiveness?
The Creator gave us the power of free choice. This means it is up to us to do good or bad, right or wrong. For many, many reasons people some people choose to do wrong or hurtful things. Everyone does at one time or another.
Sometimes it is a little thing, such as not doing something we promised to do. Sometimes it is a bigger thing, like lying or taking something which doesn't belong to us. When someone who is hurt or disappointed forgives us, we get another change. We can try again to do what's right.
Forgiveness is very important. If you do something you are sorry for and you forgive yourself, then you can learn from your mistakes. People who have trouble forgiving themselves often find it difficult to forgive others too.
If someone is not forgiving, others feel worried around that person. People who don't practice forgiveness judge and criticise others instead of giving them a chance to improve.
Forgiveness is the best way to encourage yourself and others to be better, to try harder and to make changes.
How Do You Practice It?
You can practice forgiveness by first admitting the mistake that you or someone else has made. Facing the truth about what happened takes courage. You may feel sad and angry. Let your feelings come and then let them go, like leaves passing by in a stream.
When you are forgiving, you don't punish someone by taking revenge or holding a grudge. You don't punish yourself by calling yourself bad names.
Look at what happened, honour your feelings, think, and then decide what needs to change to make things right. God is always ready to forgive a mistake when someone is really sorry. You can too.
The hardest things to forgive in yourself are the things which you do over and over, habits you feel you cannot control. To truly forgive yourself takes action. Replacing old habits with new ones is one of the best ways to forgive yourself. If someone else does something hurtful to you over and over without being sorry, forgiving them won't help. You need to stop giving them the chance to hurt you.
When you make a mistake, ask the Creator to bless it and give you the courage to change. Forgiveness allows you to learn from mistakes. Sometimes they are your best teachers.
What would forgiveness look like if...
- Your friend accidentally broke your favourite toy?
- Your mother is late picking you up from school?
- You did something you feel is very bad?
- Your brother repeatedly takes something of yours without asking?
- Someone lost her temper with you and later apologized?
Signs of Success
Congratulations! You are practising forgiveness when you...
| Keep trying! you need more practice when you...
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I am forgiving of myself and others. I learn from my mistakes. I have the power to keep changing for the better.