The first thing we did to talk about contentment today was read, “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.” If you don’t have the book, you can watch it read on YouTube or even watch the movie for fun.
Next I asked, “Do you think food ever really falls from the sky?” They said that it didn’t. I said we’d explore that by looking at our “Jesus Storybook Bible” (a must buy and a great gift idea). We read the story “Ten ways to be perfect” in this book. It comes from Exodus 16-17, 19-40 and starts with the story of the Jewish people wandering in the dessert and grumbling about their circumstances. I read the story and asked if these people were content. We then talked about complaining and how unpleasant it is. We talked about looking at all the blessings in our lives and God’s love and provision and trying to focus on the good. It’s easy to look at the people in the dessert and judge them. However, if I think about it and know myself like I think I do, I would be complaining to God too. Sure, it’s miraculous provisions from the sky, but I’d complain about the same food over and over (unless it was pizza) and the hot sand under my feet. Hopefully, by teaching contentment more intentionally, we can all complain less and be grateful more.
Finally, we went into the kitchen and had our own “manna.” They say manna is a flat wafer like product with flavors of honey. I know it is nothing like the wheat thin and honey snack I made, but I thought it would be fun to have little “manna” treats to help remember the story.