Aim to learn that the first blessing is about perfecting our character

Aim
* to learn that the first blessing is about perfecting our character
* To learn how to develop our character

Materials
* Poem – Sow a Thought
* Picture cards showing good and bad habits
* Worksheet – two natures
* Story – The Unfruitful Tree
* Card, glue

Lesson Outline
1. Understanding the 1st blessing
2. Steps to developing our character
3. The Problem of Two Natures
4. Story – The Unfruitful Tree
5. Activities – worksheet, poster. memorize poem,
6. Conclusion
7. End with a Prayer

1)Understanding the 1st blessing
Review the three blessings – God asks us to do three things in our life called the three blessings.
1. Be fruitful (become an ideal person)
2. Multiply (build an ideal family)
3. Have dominion (build an ideal world).

Today we will look more closely at the first blessing; to become an ideal person.

Let’s look at the diagram. It means to unite our mind and body centred on God. When we do this we become the ideal person God wants us to be. It means to develop a Godly character. Character
means the kind of person we are inside our hearts. God wants us to be good. He wants us to develop a heart of love and be like Him. He is our Heavenly Father and we are His children. As Jesus said, “You must be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.”

How do we centre our mind and body on God? First our mind needs to know God’s word, to know what is right and wrong. For example, we know it is right to be kind and helpful and wrong to be
unkind and unhelpful. God speaks to us through our conscience, which is God’s voice in our mind.
We must listen to our conscience and think the way God thinks. 
Second, our body must follow our mind. We need to put God’s word into practice with our body by doing kind and helpful things, such as helping parents to wash dishes. We must do it even if our
body doesn’t want to.

2) Steps to Developing our Character
This is how God wants us to live, but it takes time and effort. This poem shows the steps to developing our character.
Sow a thought and you reap an act;
sow an act and you reap a habit;
sow a habit and you reap a character;
sow a character and you reap a destiny
Sow means to plant seeds. Reap means to cut and gather a crop or harvest. Let’s look at the poem more closely.

1. 
Sow a thought and you reap an act
One of the ten commandments God gave Moses is respect your parents. That means you should listen to them and do what they say. We must sow God’s thought in our mind – “Respect my
parents.” Then we will show it in our actions 

Example: When parents tell you to pick up your toys you should think “Yes I will” and do it happily. We sow the thought “I must respect my parents and do what they tell me” The act we reap
is to pick up our toys. However, if we don’t think it is so important to respect parents we won’t pick up the toys or we will do it unwillingly.

2. 
Sow an act and you reap a habit
If we keep doing the same things again and again these actions become our habits. Parents want their children to have good habits. When children respect their parents they develop good habits.

When they don’t have respect they develop bad habits. Here are some examples:
GOOD HABITS
a) Keep drawers tidy
b) Take dishes from the table
c) Cover your mouth when burping
d) Don’t interrupt parents
e) Read good books
f) Exercise daily

BAD HABITS
a) Messy drawers
b) Leave dishes
c) Burp loudly
d) Interrupting parents
e) Watching too much junk TV
f) No exercise

3. Sow a habit and you reap a character
The habits you sow over time form your character. They become part of you. Habits develop into virtues (good qualities) or vices (bad qualities). Your character is made up of both virtues and vices.

Here are some examples: 
VIRTUES
respect
honesty
self-discipline
caring
fairness
good manners,

VICES
disrespect
dishonesty
laziness
uncaring
cheating
rudeness

4. Sow a character and you reap a destiny
The kind of character you develop affects your life. Destiny means your future. If you have a good character you will have a good future and receive God’s blessing. To summarize:
SOW A THOUGHT ACT HABIT CHARACTER REAP A DESTINY

3) The Problem of Two Natures
But it is not as easy as it sounds. Because Adam and Eve disobeyed God they could not perfect their character. Instead they developed two different natures. Look at the worksheet. Use the code to
change the symbols into letters and find out what the two natures are.

1. a selfish nature that only cares about ourselves
2. an unselfish nature that wants to do good for others

We are a mixture of good and bad. To fulfill the first blessing and become ideal people we have to make effort to be unselfish and do good for others. It all starts in the mind and the way we think.

4) The Unfruitful Tree
This story shows that what you reap depends on the thoughts you sow in your mind.
Summary – A gardener was famous for growing the finest fruit trees. He was a generous man and decided to give his brother, a farmer, one of his best trees as a gift. The farmer, however, didn’t
want to share his tree with anyone and planted it in the darkest and coldest place on his land. As a result it didn’t bear fruit. He complained to his brother that he had deceived him and given him the worst tree. But the gardener replied, “You have planted the tree with a greedy and suspicious heart – how, then, could you expect to reap a rich and generous harvest?

Because the farmer planted the tree with a greedy and suspicious heart, the tree bore no fruit. The gardener, on the other hand, was a generous and warm-hearted person and his planting reaped trees filled with the finest fruits. The moral of the story is that your thoughts determine what kind of character you develop.

5) Activities
* Worksheet – Two Natures
* Make a poster of the poem – draw a picture, stick onto card and decorate it.
* Memorize the poem – Ask each person to say the poem aloud from memory

6) Conclusion
What could each child learn from today’s lesson. Review the lesson aims
* to learn that the first blessing is about perfecting our character
– mind body unity centred on God
* To learn how to develop our character
Sow a thought and you reap an act;
sow an act and you reap a habit;
sow a habit and you reap a character;
sow a character and you reap a destiny
SOW A THOUGHT ACT HABIT CHARACTER REAP A DESTINY

7) Prayer