"The whole trouble is that -- literally -- we do not know what is good for us; and what makes the trouble still worse is that we think we do. We have our own plans for our happiness, and too often we merely regard God as somebody who will help us to accomplish them. The true state of affairs is just the opposite. God has His plans for our happiness, and He is waiting for us to help Him to accomplish them. And let us be quite clear about it: We cannot improve on God's plans." This Tremendous Lover, M. Eugene Boylan, O.C.R.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Prayer in our Life: Adoration

There are four main types of prayer that we will learn about with the children this year. We can think of them by the word “ACTS.” Each of the letters of ACTS stands for a different type of prayer. A stands for Adoration. Adoration means praising God for His amazing holiness and for his wonderful creation. C stands for Confess. When we confess to God, we tell Him we are sorry for our sins. T stands for Thanksgiving, which is when we thank God for all He has done for us. S stands for Supplication, or asking God for what we need. We might ask God to protect us or heal someone who is sick. We will take the next few weeks to learn about each one.



To help reinforce the definitions, we’ll play a game to see some examples of each of the words. We will divide the children into two teams. Each team takes turns drawing a phrase from a bowl. The team has 30 seconds to decide which category of prayer (adoration, confession, thanksgiving, or supplication) it goes under. The team will tape the item under the correct category. Correct answer is one point. If they get it wrong, the other team can try to put it in the right category for the point. For the list of phrases, you can print them here. I also printed pictures the represent each of the types of prayer for my pre-readers, which you can get here.

After the game, we'll move into teaching the children about adoration. I am using the lesson plan directly from the Prayer in our Life book. The lesson plan focuses on the holiness of God and the amazing things that He has created. We praise God for who He is...no one is like Him.



Just as God created many beautiful things, he gave us the ability to also create with Him. To wrap up the day, we are going to create something beautiful from clay. I will give the children a variety of colors of simple salt clay with the instructions, "Maybe you want to make a small bowl, or something for your icon corner. Maybe you want to make an animal or plant. You can create whatever you want. When you take it home, it can remind you of God’s creation and how awesome He is."

Happy lesson planning! Here are a few photos of some of the kiddos and their creations!





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