Gentleness
“But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.” – 1 Peter 3:15
Part of learning to be gentle is learning to have gentle words. The Bible speaks over and over again about taming the tongue, using words wisely and listening before we speak. We are encouraged to speak with respect, love and gentleness as we tell people about the Lord. We know how easily words can harm, and I wanted to teach the concept of taming the tongue with the kids. I asked them if they knew what that concept meant. They said they didn’t. So, I explained it a bit. I talked about what tame means by talking about how we can train animals to be able to sit, stay, come and do tricks. They may be animals that act wild, but they can become tame with self control. I talked about how the tongue is a way to say “words.” If you hear someone say, “Watch your tongue!” it simply means, “Be careful with the words coming out of your mouth.” I also talked about how words can be so harmful and cause a lot of damage. Just like we learn to have loving gentle hands, we need to have loving, gentle words. Then, I told them we’d be making a goofy paper plate face to remind us to tame our tongues. They were much cuter in person. Above it kind of looks like a cigar is hanging out of their mouths., but the tongue wiggles back and forth, which is fun for the kids. Ha!
I had the girls color a face on the paper plate, and then I cut a small slit the size of tongue depressor on the mouth. They then colored the tongue depressors pink or red and stuck them in the mouth.
Finally, it was time to add the hair. The great thing about the tongue is you can move it back and forth from behind the plate.
