WHAT GOD MADE ME TO BE
This lesson idea comes from Kim who teaches 1st through 6th grade in an after school program at her church. You could use this as a Biblical principle lesson alone (Isaiah 49:5, Jeremiah 1:5, Jeremiah 29:11 etc) or use it with a character like Moses or John the Baptist etc. for whom God clearly had a plan. The Gaither song "I'm Something Special" would be perfect for the children to learn.
NEEDED:
Old junky screw driver or make one look junky by putting a little paint and some duck tape on it
Potato peeler
Wrench
Hammer
2 potatoes
2 volunteers (older children)
LESSON INTRODUCTION:
After giving safety tips to the volunteers, have them peel the potatoes with one using the screw driver; the other the potato peeler. You don't need to have the screw driver person finish the job but it will get the point across.
SAY:
I would like to pretend, for this lesson, that the screw driver has feelings and emotions like a person. Ever since the screw driver was made, he had wished and wished and wished he was a peeler instead of a screw driver. He loved watching the peeler peel potatoes.
He went through his life trying to peel potatoes, even though he knew this was NOT what he was made to do. He tried and tried and tried to be like the potato peeler
He was not really happy peeling potatoes because he knew he was not good at it, but by now he felt it was his life's calling to peel potatoes. So he tried and tried and tried to be like the potato peeler.
A wrench came along and tried to tell the screwdriver that each tool was made for a specific purpose and that he would find fulfillment if he would do what screwdrivers are supposed to do. The wrench showed the screwdriver what he was created to do and how useful he was doing that.
A hammer came along and told the screwdriver he was something special - the only one of his kind - that he had a purpose in life that only he could do as a screwdriver.
Other tools tried tried telling and showing the screwdriver what he was really meant for, but he
didn't care.
Eventually, the screwdriver tried to do other things, since he is not very good at peeling potatoes. He tried to be a pry bar, opening windows and doors that were stuck but he only ended up getting bent bent and banged because those were not the things he was created to do. He tried being a saw but was absolutely no good at that, either.
God has created each one of us for a specific purpose and we will not be happy, fulfilled or proficient if we are not doing what He made us to do. Just like a screw driver trying to peel a potato!!!
