Thankfulness, Envy, and Hidden Candy

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Before class tape one piece of candy, or a bite sized candy bar under one third of the seats. Tape a ziplock bag with several pieces of candy, or a full sized candy bar under one third of the seats. Do nothing to the remaining third.

Lesson:

How’s everyone doing today? Everyone feeling ok? Comfortable? (pause for kids to respond or nod)
Ok, I want all of you to look under your chairs. (Wait for them to do so.)

It looks like there’s some people with alot of candy, some with a little candy, and some with no candy. Who here feels like they’ve just been ripped off? (you may or may not want to ask for a show of hands, either way would work.) How about you that got alot of candy, how would you have felt if you hadn’t gotten any?

Think about it. Two minutes ago everyone was happy and content. No one had any candy, and everyone was fine with that. Now look whats happened. I didn’t take anything away from anyone, no one’s any worse off than two minutes ago, but now there are alot in here that aren’t happy and content anymore. In fact, some actually have a little bit more than at the beginning of class, and still feel ripped off.

You know, it doesn’t just work that way with candy. God has blessed us with so much. But so many times, we don’t think about that. Instead, it’s easy to focus on what others have that we don’t. So much so, that we actually don’t enjoy what we have anymore. But it’s really our attitude, and not what we actually have or don’t have that decides whether we’re thankful, or get eaten up inside with envy.

At the end, have candy to give to the kids that didn’t get any during the lesson.

by Sarah Brown