The word ‘love’ is overused: people ‘love’ a t-shirt, photo on social media, or perfume. Unfortunately people also say they love over people without always understanding that love is an action word: it means we are doing something to show that love. In John 13: 34-35 Jesus says:
‘A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another’.
Jesus isn’t asking for us to simply say we love one another: he wants us to do it through kindness and service to one another. To try and explain this in an inclusive way I have created a short lesson and activity. The activity can be easily adapted to a mixed ability class and I have put a couple of suggestions for doing this on the lesson handout.
The lesson plan is here
I have uploaded the activity in Word and PDF versions so that you can alter the Word version to suit your group but hopefully make it accessible on the majority of devices, even if they don’t have word installed.
The key to this activity being successful is going to be tailoring it to the child or children you are working with and thinking about what showing love would look like for them. The things you suggest shouldn’t be too difficult for them or be things out of their current ability but rather simple ways they can show love. If a smile is the only thing they are currently able to do then you could simply draw a smile in the centre of the star. This isn’t about pushing people out of their comfort zone, but helping them to think about what love and kindness look like in their life and how they can show love to others.
I hope that you enjoy this activity and it brings a little love into your life.
Remarkably & Wonderfully Made 