Object Lesson: Trials of life compared to the different sharp edges of knives.

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I hope this lesson will be of use for family devotionals, youth ministries or family home evenings. Tonight’s object lesson is comparing the sharp edges of knives to trials in our lives.

There is a wide variety of challenges we face throughout our lives. Some are small and very specific to us while others can not only affect us, but members of our family or maybe even city or country. How we react to those challenges can often determine what the end results may be and in building our character.

Sometimes past action or a bad decision can create our own trials. What we learn from a ‘problem’ can often be a source of wisdom and increased perception. They can also help soften our hearts toward other people’s challenges because we’ve experience similar events and so we can better relate. Often challenges can toughen us up to be ready to face something that may be bigger or harder that can happen later in our lives.

We may not realize later that often a trail can help us. It may teach us how to not do something. One example in history is Thomas Edison who spent thousands of attempts to create the light bulb. He never gave up. Someone asked what did he think of all those failures toward creating the light bulb. He answers that he found 10,000 ways that it didn’t’ work. Yet his eventual success has blessed us all by his persistence. Throughout his life he invented over 1000 different things.

I had one friend who couldn’t relate to an excessive allergy of another friend. She got mono and suddenly her perception of illness took on whole new meaning and in turn, softened her heart to the challenges and ailments of other people. She became more humble toward the Lord and has actually thanked God for her bad health for the purpose of teaching her humility and for providing an opportunity for her to seek out God comfort more intensely. She no longer takes the blessings she does have for granted. Having mono she is grateful when she has the energy to do anything at all

During the occasional time of my ill health, I’ve learned to be more compassionate toward others that are in excessive pain. Or experiencing excessive weakness, we can better understand others hardships in physical weakness.

We can decide what trails can teach us when building our character.

There are many different kinds of knives. There is a cleaver that with a mighty swing can often cut through bone and meat by a butcher. Hand knives with schraded blades are nice when you need to cut through the tough skin of a fruit or vegetable. The smooth edge of a knife is nice for gently buttering a piece of bread. Knives can hurt the object they are cutting but they serve a purpose for preparing our food.

Collect a variety of knives from the kitchen and have different family members use them for different purposes. Maybe choose a dessert for the end of class that will involve the use of knives. While using the knives, have the conversations by parent, grand parent or teacher give some specific examples of how different challenges in their past have helped their perceptions in life.

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