Children's Time: Living Our Lives From the Inside Out

CHILDREN’S TIME

Good morning, my friends.

Today, I have brought something really interesting thing for our time together.

(Open the gift box: PROP)

It looks like just a normal Christmas ornament you may see every day around Christmastime, maybe even hanging on your Christmas tree at home. It’s actually a Christmas present that I received from a church member last year.

It looks like an average Christmas ornament, but we can find a special message if we learn about how it was made.

This is an Inside-painted Glass Ornament. It was made and decorated in the Japanese tradition; which means this kind of ornament was first made in Japan, a long time ago.

What is special about it is that it is painted inside out.

On the top of the ball is a very tiny hole, now covered with this cap. The painter takes a very, very thin brush, sticks it through the hole, and paints inside the ball, one colour at a time. The most amazing thing of this is, for me, the painter cannot feel the tip of the brush, so he or she has to totally rely on their sense of mind and, of course, to be very very patient. You can’t rush when you have to be this careful with your creation! The result is this beautiful ornament, handmade, one-of-kind, unique. It is beautiful because it is done from the inside out.

And the great thing that Jesus teaches us, in today’s Bible story, is to live our lives from the inside out, rather than from the outside in.

What do you think it may mean that we live our lives from the inside out?

(Receive answers…)

I think that living our lives from the inside out means to follow our heart, follow the teachings of Jesus. What are the teachings of Jesus? To love our God, to love our neighbours, and to love ourselves.

We don’t put ourselves above others. We don’t live our lives just to make more money or have more things than anyone else. And, we don’t think that we are not good enough or less than others. We don’t compare ourselves to what others do, what others have, what others achieve. We don’t live our lives according to what others think about us, what others say about us. We live with our own inner paint brush, and we paint ourselves from the inside out.

This is what Jesus teaches us today: God is blessing us. God loves us. So we return God’s love by helping others, and helping the world to be a better place for everyone within to live with peace and love.  

Will you pray with me?

Dear God, We thank you for the art that teaches about how we live. Help us to live our lives from the inside out and to love ourselves. Amen.