Be Like Samuel

Begin by reading the story in the Bible where Hannah chooses for her son to be raised by priests of the temple so that he can rise to greatness. After the story, give each family member of the group a ball of clay or modeling compound. Explain that your choice of friends helps mold you into the kind of person you will become, much like we can mold this clay. What happens if you hang around rough and mean people? Demonstrate the answer by being rough with the clay and flattening it. Ask the family to do the same. Ask what kind of person you become. Then mold the clay back into a ball. What happens if you hang around people who don’t really care about anything. Do nothing to the ball. Ask the group how easy it is to become a better person around those types of people. Samuel hung around intelligent, spiritual people – people who prayed to God and talked to God but most importantly listened to God. While you are describing these people, begin to shape your clay into a bowl. These people lived their lives being open to the Word of God. Now instruct them to shape their clay into a bowl. Let each person display their bowl somewhere as a reminder to make room in their lives for God.

After you finish the activity, process it with these or similar questions:

• Was it fun to play with clay?
• Can you see the difference between the flattened clay and the bowl?
• When you see the bowl, will you remember to be available to God?

How did this activity go when you used it with your group? Did you make any modifications that worked better for you? Share your experience below!