I hope the following object lesson can be of help to youth ministries, family devotionals, family counselors and family home evenings. Today’s topic is on tipping the balance. Many of us don’t realize how one decision or event in our lives can influence the rest of our lives or how we as an individual can contribute to the success of an organization or community. I’ve always been a fan of the movie. It’s a wonderful life. I like the story of how one man was such a big influence on the entire town. I also enjoy the chapter in the book the seven miracles that saved America that talked about president Ronald Reagan contributions to the world and to the nation. I’ve always been a fan of him as well i.e.: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall”. But now for the object lesson

Items for the object lesson: a thick book, a ruler, a roll of quarters, and a dime.

Get a big book and place it open faced with the pages are facing down on the table so that looks like a teepee with the binding of the book, ask as a mountain top. Now place a roll of quarters across the face of a ruler. Balance the ruler and quarters on top of the binding of the book, so that is balanced. Balance it in such a way that if you would add a dime to either side, it would weigh heavier and thus the ruler and the quarters slide off the tip of the book.

With the ruler in place give a lesson about how one’s person’s life can make influence upon others, and then illustrate how placing one dime on the ruler can influence the entire setup of the ruler of the quarters. You can give specific examples of famous people you respect to have made a big contribution to the world. Some specific examples might be Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr., and for me, President Ronald Reagan. Choose people who you admire. Give specific examples of how they had contributed to the world, business, sports or in other people’s lives.

Just as one person can add weight to a circumstance that can influence other’s lives, so individual decisions can add weight and direction to where we want to go. The object lesson could take a different direction. The ruler and quarters can indicate how a certain decision in our lives can influence the direction of our life. Do we pursue idea A and we go down that path or decision B where we go down an entirely different path. For examples someone may justify a bad decision with the phrase, ‘I’m only hurting myself’ or “What I doesn’t affect anyone else.”

This could also be symbolized by how actions can be a negative influence on others. People that drink, for example, may say “This is my life. I don’t bother anybody.’ But if the person who is drinking could get in a car accident and accidentally kill someone. If someone takes drugs or is dishonest such actions don’t only affect them. Maybe give some personal examples of how one discoing in your early life then led you to another decision and another until a certain goal was achieved.

If you have other ideas of what to say for this topic, please feel free to share it. Thank you