Kindness • Treating Others the Way I would want to be Treated
February 2021 • Week 2
Today's Bible story: Family Ties (Ruth and Boaz) • Ruth
Monthly memory verse: You are God's chosen people. You are holy and dearly loved. So put on tender mercy and kindness as if they were your clothes. Don't be proud. Be gentle and patient. Colossians 3:12 (NIrV)
Life Application: Kindness-Showing others they are valuable by how you treat them
Suggested songs: Who I Am, Indescribable, Good Good Father
Praise & Pray: Sing along with the provided worship videos and pray. Access songs here
What you might pray: "Dear God, you show us kindness every single day. You forgive us, protect us, provide for us, and show us love every day. Today as we learn about kindness, help us to think of ways that we can be kind to other. In Jesus' name I pray, amen."
Read God's Word together: Ruth (Need a kid-friendly Bible? Check out our suggestions.)
Family Devotional & Discussion
What you do: Watch the complementary video together as a family and discuss today's question.
What you discuss: "God was kind to Ruth and Naomi even when things seemed bad and Ruth was kind to Naomi, and Boaz was kind to Ruth. God wants us to be kind. Sometimes it is hard to be kind and often it is even harder to be kind to those you love like your friends and family. Let's remember how God wants us to be kind to everyone. When is it hard to be kind?"
Bible Story Review
What you need: Bible
What you do:
Ask questions of your own, or from the list below to encourage discussion.
- What were the names of the 2 women in our Bible story today? (Naomi & Ruth)
- Where were Naomi and Boaz from? (Judah)
- Why is Ruth's choice to stay with Naomi considered an act of kindness?
- When Ruth said, "Your people will be my people, Your God my God," to whom was she talking? (Naomi)
- Do you think it was hard for Ruth to show kindness to Naomi? Do you think it was hard for Ruth to stick with Naomi and leave Moab? Why or why not?
- Who showed kindness to Ruth and Naomi by providing them with food? (Boaz)
- How did he provide them with food? (Boaz had his workers leave food for Ruth to collect from his field)
- How else did Boaz help Ruth? (He married and protected her)
- Do you think it was hard for Boaz to be kind to Ruth and Naomi? Why or why not?
- How can the story of Ruth and Boaz help us to remember to show kindness to our family and friends?
- Why is it sometimes a lot harder to be kind to the people we see all the time and easier to be kind to strangers or people we don't know very well?
- What are things we can do to help us to remember to show kindness to our family and friends?
- What can we do when we're in a bad mood and everything is just annoying? How can we successfully be kind in that situation?
Pray and Bless Your Family
What You Need: No supplies needed
What You Do: Ask for prayer requests.
- Encourage family members to think of the name of another family member or friend who they want to do a better job of showing kindness to.
- Allow the kids or family members to pray aloud if any choose.
- Close the group in prayer, asking God to help them [Bottom Line] be kind to your family and friends.
What You Might Pray: "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 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. Pray for prayer requests. We love You. In Jesus' name we pray, amen."
Additional Activities
What you need: Clear mason jar, tea light holder, or clean tin can (check that there are no sharp edges), battery operated tea light (optional), glue, tissue paper or construction paper, scissors
What you do: "Ruth showed kindness to Naomi by choosing to stay with her, by moving back to Naomi's hometown, and by heading out to the fields to gather grain so they would have food. Boaz showed kindness to Ruth by telling his workers to let her gather all the grain she needed and eventually by marrying her. Neither Ruth nor Boaz HAD to show kindness. But they both chose kindness, even though it wasn't the easy thing to do."
- "Today we are going to make a Kindness Jar." (Note: If you don't have a tea light, this jar could also be used to collect coins etc.)
- "This week I want you to give this Kindness Jar to someone just to show kindness and not to get anything in return."
- Prior to passing out supplies explain to the kids that they will cut out tissue paper hearts to glue onto the jar.
- Kids will need to put glue onto the jar and NOT the tissue paper especially if they are using glue sticks instead of Elmer's glue. The glue sticks will rip the tissue paper.
What you say: "Sometimes, it's EASIER to be kind to strangers and HARDER to be kind to those closest to you like your family and friends. Why? (Let kids think about this and respond.) When it comes to our family and friends, often we take them for granted. We feel like we don't have to be kind because they're always going to be our family. But we should show kindness to our family because we live with them, to show that they're valuable to us. Just like Ruth and Boaz, choose to [Bottom Line] be kind to your family and friends."
What you need: Bible, paper, and marker, Fast Action Verse Activity Page (DOWLOAD TEMPLATE)
What you do:
Ask a family member to look up Colossians 3:12 in the Bible.
- Invite a different kids/family member to read the verse out loud to the group.
- In large block letters, write one phrase from the verse per page or print it from the link above.
- Verse phrases for NIrV:
- You are God's chosen people.
- You are holy and dearly loved.
- So put on tender mercy and kindness
- as if they were your clothes.
- Don't be proud.
- Be gentle and patient. Colossians 3:12
- Give each family member a memory verse phrase page. If you don't have six people in your family some family members can have two different phrase sheets.
- Call out an action for the entire group to perform as each group says their phrase in verse order.
- Repeat the verse several times and choose a different action each time you repeat it.
- To keep interest high after saying the verse two or three times, change the action in the middle of the verse.
- Some suggested actions are:
- Clap
- Snap
- Jump in place
- March
- Jog in place
- Jumping jacks
- High knees
- Squats
What you say: "Whew, let's sit down! Raise your hand if you're tired after all of that. I'm tired from just watching you. I love our memory verse this month. Ruth and Boaz wore kindness like clothes all throughout today's Bible story. They were kind to their family-even when it was very hard. "Think about your relationships with your siblings or friends or parents. Would they describe you as kind? If not, what could you do to change that this week? How can you put on kindness like your clothes and treat the people closest to you the way you would want to be treated? Remember, you don't have to do it alone. Ask God to help you [Bottom Line] be kind to your family and friends even when it's hard!"