Thoughts for Children

In today’s scripture, readers are encouraged to rejoice in God and not to worry. Worry is a natural response our minds have when we are dealing with something uncertain or scary.

Ask: Can you all show me what your face looks like when you are worried?

Where do you feel worry in your body?

If worry were a color, what color would it be?

Say: Your answers to these questions show me that you can recognize when you are starting to feel worried.

It is OK for us to feel worried. However, it also can be helpful for us to develop skills and practices for when we start to feel worried. That way, we can help ourselves find peace and calm, even when things are uncertain or scary. Today, I want to share a practice that might help you when you feel worried.

For this practice, we are going to walk around the space we are in and see if we each can find something for each color of the rainbow. By intentionally looking for each color, we are grounding ourselves in our space and focusing on things we can manage, rather than on things that make us worry. Let’s spend a few moments quietly walking around our space and seeing if we can find something red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple.

Once participants have had a few moments to walk around the space, invite everyone to return to where they began.

Ask: What did you find that is red? Orange? Yellow? Green? Blue? Purple? (Allow participants to share what they found.)

Thank you all so much for sharing. I hope that next time you start to worry, you remember this practice and try to focus on finding the beautiful colors in your surroundings as a way to help your body feel less worried.