Jokes can be a useful tool in teaching serious subjects. I hope today’s lesson will be of use to youth ministries, home devotionals, family counseling and family home evening.

Joke: Eleven survivors of a sunken ship, ten men and one woman, were clinging to a rope hanging under a hovering helicopter. The rope was not strong enough to carry them all, so they agreed that one of them had to jump off, because otherwise they were all going to fall and probably drown in the ocean.

They weren’t able to decide who’d make the sacrifice, until the woman gave a very moving speech. She said that she would voluntarily let go of the rope, because, as a woman, she’s been used to giving up everything for her husband and the kids, or for men in general, and she was used to making sacrifices with little thanks in return. As soon as she finished her speech, all the men started clapping…….

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If you’re a parent, you may already know about sacrifice. You’ve stayed up late when a child has been sick and you’ve purchased all the necessary items to feed and clothe your child. You may have learned sacrifice through service to your church or a charity. Sometimes it is nice to be reminded of what loved ones in our family has done to make your life more pleasant.

Each person in the family get a pencil and paper and write down 5 wonderful things each of the other members of the family have done to make life enjoyable in our household. If you have specific examples of sacrifice include them but if you have neat personality traits that you want to identify from a family member (a brother may have a delightful sense of humor) than write that down on the list. A sister may spend a lot of personal times her siblings to different activities.

Once a list has been made by each family member (younger members may need help by the parents) then share each attribute with the rest of the family. If one virtue has already been said, then another one needs to be created so that each family member has the same length of items on their list of attributes.

The lesson may also touch upon why parents do sacrifice for their kids. This might be a good time to talk about the dreams/aspirations parents have for their kids and to explain why parents do some of the things they do in their decision making.

Brainstorm how the family or class can show acts of compassion and charity to their neighborhood, church and community and maybe even internationally.

If you have a joke that you feel would made great fodder for teaching a moral theme, please feel free to share it.