Kids’ corner

To see is to do

How well do you see? Can you see all the letters on the eye chart? Perhaps you wear glasses to help you see better.

To be able to see is a very important ability. Seeing helps you in many ways. Stop and think of some things you know because you can see.

First are the changes that appear as spring arrives. Bushes and trees begin to shimmer in a green haze as tiny leaf buds form on their branches. Soon velvety leaves grow and fill out.

Thick red bulbous tips push through the earth in the garden, then a red stalk with a wrinkly green leaf on its top; these are rhubarb plants. You recognize the tall leaves of tulips poking up out of the soil and their cup shaped flowers in bright red and yellow. You recognize them because you can see them.

Seeing also helps you recognize

possible danger. Black clouds and lightning flashes let you know a storm is coming. You hurry indoors where it’s safer and you’re out of danger.

You watch for the red traffic light to change to green and you watch to make sure the cars are stopped before you cross the street.

What is something new you have learned? Perhaps you learned how to bake a cake or bread, or cook a new food, or build a birdhouse, something you haven’t done before.

Did you first watch to see how it’s done? What about when you first played soccer or hockey or tried to ride a bike? Did someone show you the steps to take?

Often we learn or decide to try something because we have first seen someone else do it. We want to do what they are doing; we want to be like them.

Jesus wanted his disciples to learn to do what he did. He said to them,

“Follow me!” And they did. They followed him and observed. What did they see?

The disciples saw Jesus love and accept those who were not loved

The disciples saw Jesus love and accept those who were not loved or seemed less important, like little children and people like Zacchaeus.

Activity: Lawn Safari

Need:

• wire coat hanger • magnifying glass • notebook • pencil

Do:

• go down on your knees or stomach • look closely inside the frame of the wire hanger • use your magnifying glass, search the grass inch by inch • find earthworms, beetles, ants, grubs, spiders, moths, or anything else • draw or name in a list what you find • take the wire frame to another patch of grass • compare what you find, choose shady and sunny grass, thick or thin grass • what are the differences?

or seemed less important, like little children and people like Zacchaeus. He made sure the people who came to hear him had enough food to eat.

He healed sick people. He taught them how to pray with the example of the Lord’s Prayer.

Jesus purposely chose the disciples to follow him to teach them what he wanted them to know and do. His example showed them who God is. “He who has seen me has seen my Father,” he says in John 14:9.

Make sure you choose to follow someone who is also following Jesus.

Read about Jesus’ example of the children and Zacchaeus in Matthew 16:32-36 and Matthew 19:13-15.

May 2010 THE MESSENGER Evangelical Mennonite Conference 440 Main Street Steinbach, MB R5G 1Z5 Publications Mail Agreement #40017362 PAP Registration #9914