A Wordless Book: Life Made Beautiful...

In talking about wordless books, I wanted to revisit a little book we created that is near and dear to my heart.  Making our first 'heart lesson' book last spring began a beautiful conversation with my second child which culminated in him turning his dirty heart over to Jesus for a miraculous cleaning a couple of months later!  We discussed the reality that we are all born with dirty hearts and need Jesus to clean our hearts!  He pondered, asked questions, revisited his ‘Heart Lesson’ wordless book and we told each other the GOOD NEWS over and over again.  Truth sunk in and his life dramatically changed…  I’ve written about our struggles before.  He’s my strong-willed one.  It has been beautiful to watch his heart become tender to the Lord and in the process for many of our struggles to dissipate.

But you know what.  That is not the end of the story.  Oh no.  God has so much in store for each one of us after He cleans our hearts and brings us into His family.  As His children, He’s given us a mission.  We are now running the beautiful race of life on this earth.  And there is an end; a final culmination where we are forever reunited physically with Jesus!   

So here you go.  Here is the WHOLE story.  The story of a life made beautiful!

Want to join us? First up, gather your supplies:

•  Glue and sand
• Print off the templates for the crown, leaf, flame and heart.
• You'll need a trio of hearts. Trace onto black, red and white paper (allowing the child to water color the hearts would be a beautiful alternative).
• Paint and glitter
• Pipe cleaner, cut into thirds (we had pretty gold one’s lying around)
• Hole punch
• Your Bible.  It is fun to read truth directly from the source!

DIRTY

Go outside and smear some glue on your black heart.  Sprinkle sand on top.

Tell your children (or ask questions to have them tell you) that each one of us is born with a dirty heart.  When Adam and Eve ate the apple in the garden, sin invaded their hearts and every person born after that now has a dirty heart.  It is ugly and painful.  On our own there is NOTHING we can do to clean our hearts and be pure again.  Although we were created to be in God’s family, sin keeps us out…

The dirty, black heart is a reminder that all of us are born with an unclean heart. (Rom 3:23) And the cost for our sin was death. (Rom 6:23) This is sad news.
 

REDEEMED 

But thankfully it doesn't end. No, there is very good news.  Jesus came to rescue us and clean our hearts. Nothing else, but HIS perfect sacrifice by laying down His life could clean our hearts and bring us back into relationship with God.  Redemption sure is sweet!

The red heart reminds us of this!

Emphasize, again that we can't do ANYTHING to clean our own hearts. It is only Jesus. He's the only way.  Read or recite John 3:16!

CLEAN

And once we've asked Jesus to clean our hearts, God doesn't see our imperfections, sin and dirtiness anymore. That has been replaced and the only thing our heavenly Father sees when He looks at us is His perfect son, Jesus, and counts us as His children. We are in His family, forever. The best news ever!

This is what the white heart represents!

So now that we are in God’s family and He sees only a clean, pure heart is that the end of the story???

Hardly.  It is just the beginning, the beginning of a beautiful life as God’s child.  And as children of the KING, He has a mission for us.  {My brave little knights were all ears at this point…}

GROW

We are called to grow in wisdom and knowledge.  We are called to emulate Jesus! (Eph 5:1)
The Bible says that if we love Jesus, we will obey Him. (I John 5:2)  That should be our desire.  Remind them that just as a newborn baby earnestly wants and needs milk {Have you seen a newborn babe dive-bombing for milk recently?}, so we are to eagerly seek to grow as we read the Bible and DO what it says! (1 Peter 2:2)

Growing like this makes us strong, so we aren’t tossed to and fro by whatever people may say.  Instead we can speak the truth and love fully as we grow to be more like Jesus (Eph 4:14-16)

As God helps us to grow (John 15:1-8), we shine as lights in the world! (Phil 2:12-16)

The leaf reminds us that we are called to GROW!   

GO

As we grow, we shine as lights in a dark world.  Why is it dark? {guide them back to the black heart.} The world is full of sin and darkness.  But God desires to use us as ambassadors to this world. (2 Cor 5:10) We are called to let our light shine before men and thus glorify God and point people to Jesus. (Matt 5:14-16)  Singing “This Little Light of Mine” right now can help solidify this point!

We are called to GO and preach the good news to everyone we meet.  It is a mighty calling that each child of God is commissioned to carry out! (Mk 16:15)  God wants us to love others just as He loves us!!! 

The flame reminds us of our calling to be light and GO reach out to those who don’t know Jesus! {Using the flame from our Pentecost crowns was a fun trip down memory lane!}

CROWNED

As you paint your crown, add glitter and/or jewels, you can share the anticipation of heaven and getting to be with Jesus!

As the mission that God has called us to on this earth comes to an end, we get to go to heaven to forever be with Jesus.  As children of KING Jesus, we too will receive a crown.  Just as Jesus is crowned (Heb 2:9), so to will we one day… (2 Tim 4:8, Rev 2:10)

The crown reminds us that someday we will get to go live with Jesus in heaven. (Rev 21)  I didn't grow up singing very many hymns, but one of the few that I remember from my childhood, came to mind as we wrapped this part up.  So I introduced my children to Victory in Jesus. 

Thread each item together with your pipe cleaner

and you have the wonderful story of a life made beautiful.