Today’s topic is achieving goals and comparing them to different forms of heat. I hope today’s object lesson is of use to youth ministries, home devotionals and family home evenings.

Prior to the lesson, go about the house and look for various sources of heat. Our objective will be to compare the traits of goals to those different forms of heat. My current collection is the element of a stove, hair dryer, match and an electric blanket. We can now compare each of these objects to how we achieve different goals. Here are some examples:

The element of stove can get so hot that it not only changes the color from black to red but it can start an object on fire if it gets too close. The older stoves take time to warm up and to cool down. The advantage of this is that if a dish is nearly cooked you can turn off the element and the meal can finish cooking while it cools. Having a setting on high can turn water to boiling; so making an extreme effort toward a goal (increasing the intensity) can help achieve a specific goal quickly. It might take time to warm up to a big goal such as planning. It also takes time to wrap up residue tasks or cool down the stove.

The hair dryer can provide hot air that drys hair quickly. It’s not so hot as to damage the hair if you take appropriate measures. The hair dryer would not be useful to boiling a pan of water. The dryer has a different task. So achieve one specific type of goal would not be accomplished in the same way as a stove. A dryer lets you alter the direction of the heat to up and down or to the side. A lot of times goals need a different approach and it is nice to have flexibility of heat to accommodate that goal.

A match provides a great intensity of heat for only a short time. It is useful in that it is small enough to direct the flame to a candle contained within a cup where a hair dryer or stove could not accomplish the lighting a candle. Some goals require very concentrated effort to achieve them.

An electric blanket is more subtle on its warmth. It is also spread across a wider area. It’s useful in warming an entire bed. Like a blanked some goals are not specific but more general. This could be compared to the direction of one’s life, perhaps becoming a better person, which may be achieved by a day by day effort. A general goal may not be immediate and make take years in getting accomplished. This does not make the goal less useful. It is simply that the intensity is more relaxed and steady to endure the long term. It too has it place.

Please feel free to give additional suggestions you have on this topic in the comment section of the blog/site.