TALKING TO GOD

Ask God for forgiveness if you've hurt the feelings of someone in your family or have been unkind. Then thank God for your relationships with your family and friends.

DIVING IN

Use bright colors to draw a picture of a home with sunshine and birds outside and with cake, presents and a family inside. Then use dark colors to draw a second home with storm clouds and lightning outside and siblings upset with each other on the inside. Compare the pictures. Talk about why one is more peaceful.

GOING DEEPER

Families are made up of people with different personalities and emotions. Sometimes family members feel happy, and other times they feel angry. How a person is feeling should not change a family's peaceful home. Romans 12:18 says, "If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone." This mention of everyone includes the members of your family. Getting along with those in your family may seem like a lot of work some days. But Proverbs 17:1 says that a peaceful home is a true treasure, something worth working for. "Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife."

TALKING TO EACH OTHER

- How should you act toward family members?

- What can you do to be a peacemaker in the family when someone is angry or upset?

- How can God's peace fill your home, even when you disagree with one another?

Matthew 5:9