The Bridge Core Values – Week 8 – Giving at Christmas

Once upon a time, a man punished his 3 year old daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper. Money was tight and he became infuriated when the child tried to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree. Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift to her father the next morning and said, "This is for you, Daddy."
He was embarrassed by his earlier over reaction, but his anger flared again when he found the box was empty. He yelled at her, "Don't you know when you give someone a present, there's supposed to be something inside it?" The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and said, "Oh Daddy, it's not empty. I blew kisses into the box...all for you Daddy." The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little girl, and he begged for her forgiveness.
It is told that the man kept that gold box by his bed for years and whenever he was discouraged, he would take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who put it there. In a very real sense, each of us humans, have been given a gold container filled with unconditional love and kisses from our family, friends and God. There is no more precious possession anyone could hold

This week at Bridge Kids, we continued our month of learning about the Bridge Core Value, Giving. We talked about how Giving of ourselves and/or our resources to others is a reflection of God’s Love Language of Gifts, which can take many forms, just like our own Love Languages – through worship to God, material provision, stewardship/trust, or loving inclusion of others.We started out reviewing the Core Values – what does that mean? It means it’s the center (core) of what we build everything we do on. We also briefly discussed our weeks of Giving and what it means to be greedy and what it means to be giving.

Today, we focused on what giving at Christmastime means to us, specifically time spent, and giving of our talents. Laura talked about how time spent on a gift is important to her, and that time with others really makes Christmastime special. Geoff told the story of the little drummer boy who drummed because he didn’t have a present to give Jesus at his birthday party. He gave his talent. This Christmas two ways you can show your love for God and others is spending time with them, and doing the things you are good at for them.

Before beginning our activity today, we asked the BKs “What do you give someone when you really can’t give them anything material?” Like the drummer boy you give them your talent. As an art project today, we drew what we might give Jesus.

We challenged them to find time and do things they are good at to make this Christmas special.




December – Bridge Core Values -- Giving

Dine and Dish:
Talk – Talk to your kids about giving their talents at Christmastime. What does that mean to you?
Tell your child what you think they are good at. How can you translate that into a Christmas gift?
Talk about what your talents are. Ask what your kid thinks you are good at.
Do an activity together:The great thing about Giving is that anyone can give, regardless of social or economic standing. Be resourceful and talk to your kids about what they are doing and why.

Spend time on a found ornament – Give your family 10 minutes to run around the house finding items that they can make into an ornament. Then spend time decorating, drawing, pasting, and creating an original ’07 ornament. A memory that you can do every year (and a way to clean out your junk drawer).
Do a family talent show– If you have family around. Gather everyone and act as MC for a family talent show. You might never have known that Uncle Bob had pipes like that!
Create – Create art/bracelets/scarves/etc. together to be sold for $1-$5 at the Bridge Kids Merch Table, downstairs, before and after church, the month of December. Your kids will get $0.50 from each dollar that they sell. The other $0.50 will go toward HOMEPDX.
Socks – Go to Wal-Mart (or whatever store you would like) and buy a $7 bag of men’s white crew socks and bring them to church for the sock drawer. Let your kids pay for the socks at the counter. Talk with them about what you are doing and why. Discuss what it would be like to have to wear the same pair of socks every day. Let your kids fill the sock drawer at church.
Clean Out – Clean out your kids’ toy boxes and closets with things they don’t play with or use anymore. Things that are in really good condition. Clean them up and donate them to a local free porch or let your kids choose who they would like to give their items to – family, friends, or heck, even strangers.