Patience • Waiting Until Later for What You Want Now
March 2021 • Week 1
Today's Bible story: Wait for It (Simeon Waits for the Messiah) • Luke 2:25-35
Monthly memory verse: Wait for the Lord. Be strong and don't lose hope. Wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:14 (NIrV)
Life Application: Patience-Waiting until later for what you want now
Suggested songs: "King of My Heart", "Yes and Amen" and "Oceans"
Praise & Pray: Sing along with the provided worship videos and pray. Access Songs Here.
What you might pray: "Dear Jesus, sometimes patience can be hard. Please help us to learn to be patient. In Jesus' name, amen."
Read God's Word together: Luke 2:25-35 (Need a kid-friendly Bible? Check out our suggestions.)
Family Devotional & Discussion
What you do: Watch the complementary video (LINK BELOW) together as a family and discuss today's question.
What you discuss: "Can you imagine how hard it was for Simeon to wait for sooooooooo long to meet the Messiah, Jesus? It took a lot of waiting but Simeon got to see the Messiah just as the Holy Spirit said. Jesus was worth the wait. Waiting can be hard. Simeon could have given up and lost patience, but he didn't. He knew he had the Holy Spirit with him just like we know we have God with us even while we are waiting. When is it hard to have patience?"
Bible Story Review
What you need: Bible
What you do: Hand out Bibles and ask kids / family members to open to Luke 2:25-35 and read together.
What you say and questions to ask: "Simeon and Anna waited a LONG time, most of their lives to see the Messiah. The one who would save us all! When the Holy Spirit told Simeon the Messiah, Jesus, would be born while Simeon was alive, he must have been excited and even a bit impatient! He couldn't have known what day or year Mary and Joseph would bring baby Jesus to the temple to dedicate Jesus to God, but when it finally happened, do you think Simeon thought it was worth the wait?
- Who else was waiting for the Messiah besides Simeon? (Anna)
- Do you think she was waiting a long time too? Why or why not?
- Do you think they had a hard time waiting? Why or why not?
- In a frustrating situation, how can you tell when you're about to lose your patience?
- What can you do to avoid losing your cool when it's not easy to be patient or when waiting feels like forever?
- If Simeon could share his "recipe" for patience, what might the ingredients be?
- What is a patient person like? (let kids describe)
- Why is a patient person more fun to hang around with than someone who is impatient?
- What steps can you take to become more patient?
- When you mess up by losing your patience, is it always your fault? Why or why not?
- There's no rewind button on life, but what can you do to make things right or even just better if you lose your patience?
Pray and bless your family
What you need: No supplies needed
What you do: Ask for prayer requests
- Encourage kids to have a moment of silence before you pray.
- Instruct kids to use their time of silence to think of how strong God is or how patient He is with all of us!
- Remain silent for ten seconds then pray.
What you might pray: "Dear God, we are so thankful that You don't leave us alone while we wait. Even when we don't get the answers we hope for or when we wish our waiting didn't last so long, You are always with us! This week as we meet people and experience times where we know we need patience, we ask that You help us show others what You are like through our waiting. May our actions show others that [Bottom Line] when you have to wait, remember God is with you. Pray for prayer requests. In Jesus' name, Amen!"
Additional Activities
What you need: Bibles
What you do: Pass out Bibles and have everyone look up Luke 2:25-32.
- Invite a few kids to take turns reading the passage out loud, switching readers every couple of sentences. Ask:
- In our Bible story, who was waiting?
- What was he waiting for?
- How long did he have to wait?
- What did he do when the wait was over?
- How do you think he felt once he could finally stop waiting?
- Instruct the kids to spread out and sit in a circle on the floor.
- Explain that you will play a version of "Duck, Duck, Goose," but it's called "Wait, Wait, Go!"
- Direct all the kids / family to sit in a circle.
- Choose one kid / family member to be the first tagger.
- Instruct that kid to walk around the circle, tapping each kid on the head and saying "wait" until they tap a kid and say, "Go!"
- The kid who is tagged on "go" runs after the tagger and tries to tag them before they can take their seat.
- Whoever is left standing is the new tagger.
- Play as long as you have time to let as many kids as possible be the tagger.
What you say: "I don't usually like waiting. Do you? (Pause for responses.) Was it hard to wait for your turn? (Pause for responses.) It can be really hard to wait, especially for something we really look forward to or when something is hard. No matter what it is you have to wait for, God is always with you. You can trust Him while you wait, just like Simeon did in our Bible story. [Bottom Line] When you have to wait, remember God is with you. Just like Simeon, we can have patience and wait, because we know God is in control and His plan for us is good."
What you need: No supplies needed
What you do: Explain that you will read a situation out loud.
- Anyone who thinks it would be hard to wait in that scenario will step / jump backward.
- As you read each situation, kids should step / jump forward if that would be a hard situation for them to wait.
- Example situations (add any that are relevant and applicable for your kids, such as waiting for a local sports team to win a championship or waiting for a particular bus or train):
- waiting for Christmas morning
- waiting for your birthday party to start
- waiting for a movie to come out
- waiting for a special gift to arrive in the mail
- waiting for your sister to get out of the bathroom
- waiting for your dad to get home from work
- waiting for your grandparents to arrive for a visit
- waiting for your turn on a video game
- waiting for your friends to be ready to play
- waiting for your mom to be done with her work call
- waiting for your teacher to answer your question
- waiting for the cookies to cool so you can eat them
- waiting for your favorite dinner to be ready
- waiting for your favorite shirt or blanket to get out of the laundry
What you say: "Waiting can be hard and sometimes waiting can be scary when you have to wait, remember God is with you. When I remember that God is with me, it helps me wait. I know that I'm not alone, and I always have someone I can talk to!"