Faith and Family Fun Fridays: Silly Putty and Scripture

|
 
For the word of God is alive and powerful. 
It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, 
cutting between soul and spirit,
between joint and marrow. 
It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. 
-Hebrews 4:12


Welcome to Family Faith and Fun Fridays. As the week winds down and I anticipate more family time over the weekend, I often ask God for one good idea that will enable me to bring the Word to life and bring our family together. Usually, the activity overflows out of something the Lord has been teaching me through His Word during the week. I’d like to invite you to join me and my family in the adventure. Sometimes I’ll post things we’ve tried; other times I’ll post an idea in the works. If you’ve got thoughts to add or suggestions on how to adapt or improve the activity, please don’t hesitate to comment. Enjoy!

In just a few moments, I’m heading to Kansas City to meet a dear friend of mine. Together, we’re going to spend the next twenty-four hours soaking in the Word as one of my favorite Bible teachers explores the scripture with an arena filled with hungry women. Soul hungry, that is.I’m thrilled for this opportunity to be filled. Thrilled for the chance to just gratefully receive what God has to give to my dry and weary heart. As I was packing my overnight bag this morning, Joshua sat on my bed and watched me fold my clothes. How come you’re going to a Bible Study for a WHOLE NIGHT? he asked, raising an eyebrow as if I might have lost my mind. Because I want God’s Word to stick to my heart like that bubblegum that got stuck on your shoe yesterday at the playground, I told my littlest boy with a smile.Joshua laughed and flung his arms around my neck. Then he said, Well I’ve already got Jesus’ words sticking in my heart. You could have just stayed home and I would have shared!                                        If you’re looking for a fun way to share with your children just why it’s so important to get God’s Word stuck inside our souls, maybe you’ll want to give this simple activity a try sometime this weekend. I dug it out from the archives and it’s still one of my favorites!Impress it On Their Hearts!

                             






 











 
 
 Psalm 119:11 proclaims: “I have hidden your word in my heart so I might not sin against You.” When God’s Word is in the heart of a child, it has the power to keep that child from sin. Of course, as parents, we must acknowledge that our children still have free choice. The Word of God does not FORCE a child to obey. But it inarguably equips them with the tools to avoid the Enemy’s snares and walk triumphantly with Christ through this life.
 
In our quest to give our children the best opportunities possible for succeeding in life, we would be crazy to ignore God’s infallible prescription: Keep all [these] commands that I give you ..so that you may enjoy long life.. and so that it may go well with you..” Dt 6:2. 
 

The Amplified version commends parents to impress the Word of God upon the hearts of our children.


 “And these words which I am commanding you this day shall be [first] in your [own] minds and hearts; [then] You shall whet and sharpen them so as to make them penetrate, and teach andimpress them diligently upon the [minds and] hearts of your children,and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up.”
 
A few years ago, as I was grappling with how to clearly communicate to my children (again) the importance of memorizing scripture, I walked by a small display of Silly Putty at the Dollar Store. I hadn’t seen those two-toned plastic eggs for years, but at the very sight of them, I remembered pressing that stretchy putty over my Dad’s Sunday paper and delighting in the impression that was stuck to the gray goo when I lifted it from the newsprint. 
 
I smiled as I bought five little eggs and thanked the Lord for showing me a simple way to demonstrate the importance of IMPRESSING God’s Word on our hearts.


After reading the Amplified Bible’s version of Deuteronomy 6:2 to my children, I asked them what it meant to “impress” God’s Word on our hearts. 

“That means you think God’s really cool,” Hannah declared. 

“That’s true if you’re IMPRESSED with God,” I agreed. “But this is a little different.”


“That kind of impress is like letting the Bible STICK to you,” Lizzy corrected. 

“Oh, yeah,” Hannah added, suddenly understanding. “And it’s kind of like having God write something on your heart.”

“A heart tattoo!” Luke summarized.

I applauded their wisdom, and then pulled out the Silly Putty. “So, if I want to impress a word on this putty, which we’ll pretend is my heart, then what would I have to do?” 

“Stick a word on it,” Hannah urged.

I flipped through the newspaper on the coffee table in front of me and found a bold print headline. I pressed the Silly Putty against the letters and waited. “Like this?”

“Yeah!” The kids all took a turn pounding the putty onto the paper and then we created a drum roll. 

I slowly peeled the putty off the newspaper and revealed the squat black letters. 

“Wow!”  the little ones cheered. “That’s awesome.” 

“That’s what happens to our hearts when we press into God’s Word by reading it, thinking about it, and memorizing it,” I explained, “It becomes impressed on our hearts like these words on the Silly Putty!”

The kids all scrambled for their own duo-toned egg and a piece of the Sunday paper. They laughed at the faces, the words, and the graphics that they magically lifted from the pages of the paper on that elastic gray putty.  They pulled and stretched the images until the impressions looked like reflections one might find in The House of Mirrors. Then they each took a note card on which to write their choice of the Bible verse they planned to  impress upon their own pliable hearts. 

Ever since our Silly Putty Extravaganza, I’ve been praying that the next time my children see a little plastic egg filled with strange stretchy glop, they will be reminded to press into God’s Word and let it tattoo their hearts.
Alicia

4 Comments

  1. This article is very interesting but it took
    me a long time to find it in google. I found it on 21 spot, you should
    focus on quality backlinks building, it will help you to increase traffic.

    And i know how to help you, just type in google – k2 seo tips and tricks

  2. Tara Pohlkotte says:

    this is a great idea! {hope this weekend was wonderful}…

  3. This is a great idea…I will keep my eye open for silly putty…which my kids all love!

  4. This is such a good idea! I am bookmarking it AND going to find some silly putty!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.