WEEK 1 K -5 GRADE TH Read Genesis 2:15 DAY 1 In the beginning, there was nothing except God. The universe was one big empty space. And then God created the heavens and the earth. God made Adam and Eve and gave them the job of caring for His creation. They weren t the creators. They were simply the caretakers or stewards. Stewardship is taking care of what you have because it all belongs to God. Adam and Eve knew that the Garden didn t exist because of them. The Garden existed for them to take care of. They knew from the start that everything belonged to God. If you could plant a garden what would you grow? Flowers? Strawberries? Peppers? Tomatoes? Fill in the signs to show what plants are growing in each row. Thank God for creating a beautiful place to live and care for. Read Psalm 24:1 DAY 2 Grab a piece of paper. Your challenge is to set a timer and write down as many things as you can that you would find in a forest in 60 seconds. Ready? Go! What if you were a scientist given the task of moving to a remote forest that had never been inhabited before? What if your job was to identify every single living thing in that forest? It would take a LIFETIME to complete a task like that. And that s just ONE forest. You could repeat this 60-second list with a jungle, or a river, or an ocean. And sure, you might be able to come up with a pretty long list. But you would never be able to name every single thing within those habitats. But guess what? God could! He created everything from the tiniest ant to the tallest redwood tree. It ALL belongs to God. The earth IS the Lord s and everything in it. That s why we should take care of the earth. Because it doesn t really belong to us. Remember, everything belongs to God. Ask God to help you care for the earth as a steward, remembering that it all belongs to Him.
WEEK 2 K -5 GRADE TH Read Psalm 90:12 DAY 1 We only have 24 hours in the day. 24 hours to sleep, eat, go to school, play outside with friends, spend time with our family. Just 24 hours. No more. No less. So when it comes to time, you have some big choices to make. Numbering our days means that we take into account the time we have (24 hours per day) and we choose what needs to come first. It means we make priorities so that the most important things get done. God wants you to use your time wisely. So let s practice. It s after school. You have about 3 hours until dinnertime. Below are a list of possible activities and time slots. Place each activity in a slot of time based on what you think is the best use of that time. 3:00 3:30 4:00 4:30 5:00 5:30 Chores Practice an instrument Play outside Finish homework Play on your tablet Help with dinner Thank God for the time He s given you to use wisely. Read Ecclesiastes 9:10 DAY 2 This verse is a little crazy. What does the realm of the dead mean? Sounds creepy doesn t it? The writer of Ecclesiastes (Solomon, son of King David) is reminding us that our time on earth isn t infinite. We won t live here forever so we should make the most of our time. Part of being a good steward is using our time wisely. And whatever we do, we are to do it with all our might. Find piece of paper. Place your non-writing hand on the paper and trace around it. Inside the hand, write down the first part of this verse, Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. Cut out the handprint and tape it on the doorframe of your room. As you leave your room each day this week, give your hand a high five and then read the verse as reminder to use your time wisely. Ask God to help you use your time wisely this week, doing the task in front of you with all your might.
WEEK 3 K -5 GRADE TH Read Luke 12:15 DAY 1 Do you ever find yourself wanting more and more? And more? And more? Guess what. That means you re normal. It seems like we always want more. Know how to fix this? The antidote to greed is gratitude. Gratitude is taking the time to thank God for what you already have. So the way to stop the cycle of constant wanting is to stop and recognize all that you ve already been given. Play a memory game with your family. At the dinner table, go around and get everyone to name one of his/ her blessings. Then, go around the table and see if you can name what everyone said they were thankful for. For example: I m grateful for family (named by first person), friends (named by second person), and food (named by third person). Thank God for all the things you already have instead of the things you don t. Read Luke 3:11 DAY 2 Sharing is hard, isn t it? Sometimes, we re afraid to share because we re worried our stuff might get lost or broken. Sometimes, we don t want to share because we just want to keep our stuff for ourselves. But when we give or share, we re not losing something. We re really gaining trust. When we give, we re saying, Okay God. I trust you with my stuff. I know it s not really mine in the first place. And I know you ll always take care of me. Want to put this sharing thing into practice? Grab two big boxes. Label one: Give Away. Label the other: Throw Away. Go through your clothes and toys. Place anything that s broken or torn in the Throw Away box. Then place everything you ve out grown or no longer play with into the Give Away box. Make a plan to donate the items in the Give Away box to a homeless shelter or clothes closet. Ask God to help you use your things wisely by sharing with those in need.
WEEK 4 K -5 GRADE TH Read Luke 16:10 DAY 1 All month long, we ve been talking about stewardship taking care of what you have because it all belongs to God. And part of being a good steward is by taking care of our money. You re probably thinking, Well that s great and all, but I don t really have any money. The principle from today s verse still applies to you, no matter how much money you have in your piggy bank. Using your money wisely now means that you can be trusted with more later on. All week, we ll be looking at the three things we should do with any money we receive. You may have made some containers at church this week to help you put this into practice. If not, grab three jars. On one write, Give. On the second write Save. On the third, write Spend. Keep these jars on your dresser or kitchen counter where you can get to them each day this week. Ask your mom or dad if they would give you 10 quarters (or dimes or nickels). Hold onto these ten coins. You ll need them this week. Thank God for what He s trusted you with as you learn to use your money wisely. Read 2 Corinthians 9:7 DAY 2 Take a look at your Give jar. According to this verse, what does God love? God loves a giver. Yes! He loves it when we give with gratitude. He loves it when we choose generosity instead of holding on to what we think is ours. When you trust God with your money, and GIVE, you will have a front row seat to see what God can do. Everything belongs to Him anyway and because He s promised to provide everything you need, you can give knowing that He will always take care of you. Every time you place money in your Give jar, it s like saying, God this isn t really mine anyway. I choose to give it back to show that I trust you to take care of me. Do you remember those 10 coins you collected yesterday? One way to figure out how much to give is to start with 10%. So if you have ten coins, one tenth (or 10%) would be 1 coin. Place one coin in your give jar. When Sunday rolls around and it s time to go to church, grab whatever you ve collected in your give jar to give during the offering. Ask God to help you become a cheerful giver.
WEEK 5 K -5 TH GRADE Read Matthew 6:19 DAY 1 Do you remember a couple of weeks ago when you went through your closet and toys to throw out things that were broken and to give away things you d outgrown? Were you surprised at just how much stuff you d collected? Until we take a good look at what we have, we sort of assume that we don t have enough. But the truth is, most all of us have WAY more than we need. Jesus tells us not to store up treasures on earth. Why? Eventually, they ll wear out. Or break. Or be lost or stolen. Stuff doesn t last. It s important to remember to live like you know what really matters. If we find ourselves wishing we had more, it s time to stop and ask God to help us love HIM more and to love PEOPLE more than our stuff. Because loving God and loving people is what really matters. Find some sticky notes. On the front write, Love God, Love People and stick it on your closet door or your toy box. Thank God for the opportunity to focus what really matters by loving God and loving people. Read Matthew 6:20 DAY 2 The Bible tells us about the best treasure ever. This treasure is better than gold or jewels or precious metals. This treasure is eternal, the kind that never wears out, or gets lost or stolen. God wants us to stop looking for earthly treasure that you can t hold onto anyway and to start looking for heavenly treasures that can never be taken away. So what are heavenly treasures? They re acts of service that we perform here on earth. God wants us to spend more time helping others than hoarding or holding on to stuff that doesn t last. God wants us to love others and to help when we see a need so that we can shine a light that points them to Him. When you do, you ll be living like you know what really matters. On separate scraps of paper, write down five ways you can serve or show love to someone else this week. Fold up each scrap and place it in a box like a shoebox or empty tissue box. Each day, pull out one scrap of paper and perform that act of service as a way to store up treasures in heaven. Ask God to help store up treasures in heaven that no one can destroy.