I have never heard anything about the resolutions of the apostles, but a good deal about their acts.
~ Og Mandino
Family Closeness
Game:
The Edge
Get a small coin of some sort. Each family member takes turns sliding their coin along the top of the table from one end to the next The goal is to get it the closest to the edge without it sliding off.
Sharing
Questions for stimulating discussion in your family.
- What was the hardest thing about this year?
- What is something that you achieved this year?
- What is something you want to give thanks for this last year?
- What are your hopes for next year?
- What do you hope to do, experience, discover or be next year?
Story
With your family read Matthew 2.13-23
(for a way of explaining/talking about this reading with children look at
Questions for Discussion:
- What are your feelings about this reading?
- Have you ever thought about Jesus being a refugee?
- Why do you think Herod did what he did?
Prayer and Celebration
People like to celebrate New Year’s Day in many different ways. Some people like to stay up until the clock strikes midnight – others like to go to bed so they can be up fresh for the first day of the year. Whatever you like to do, may you be encouraged this New Years to think about how God might be honoured, remembered and shared in your family. Pray together, either at midnight or on getting up on the first of January. Give thanks for the year ahead. Ask God to guide you and your family in all you do…and dedicate yourselves to serving Christ in the year to come.
Service
As a family discuss how you might service your community and world in 2017. Talk about some of the things happening in the world you would like to change and decide how to make a difference. Make a commitment to give a certain amount of money to a charity or cause. Work out how your family might raise money or give time or talents to help a local charity.
Family Time
Big Dreams 2014
One day an expert was speaking to a group of students and on time management and he used this illustration. Firstly he took out a wide mouthed jar, then he produced about a dozen large rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time, into the jar.
When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, "Is this jar full?" Everyone in the class said, "Yes."
Then he said, "Really?" He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. Then he dumped some gravel in and shook the jar causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the spaces between the big rocks. Then he smiled and asked the group once more, "Is the jar full?" By this time the class was onto him. "Probably not," one of them answered. "Good!" he replied. And he reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in and it went into all the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked the question, "Is this jar full?"
"No!" the class shouted. Once again he said, "Good!" Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim. Then he looked up at the class and asked, "What is the point of this illustration?" One eager beaver raised his hand and said, "The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard, you can always fit some more things into it!"
"No," the speaker replied, "that's not the point. The truth this illustration teaches is this: If you don't put the big rocks in first, you'll never get them in at all."
I wonder…what are the big rocks you wish to fit into your family life next year. Sit down with your family and dreams some dreams and make some plans for 2017. What things would you like to do? What places would you like to see? What habits would you like to make together?
(This material is based on and draws from earlier Faithful Families emails by Stephen Harrison and Richard Browning: An Unless Ideas Production.) Unless otherwise noted all material on this blog is copyright Stephen Harrison and Richard Browning
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