By Bethany Pitman
Editor’s note: If necessary, please adapt the following activity to fit the parameters put in place by your local authorities regarding social distancing. CTA has a wide variety of items for use in your children’s ministry activities. Click here to go directly to the children’s ministry section of CTA’s website and explore the options.
Materials Needed
- Cut out a set of open hands from construction paper. They should be large enough to fit the names of everyone in the group
- Writing utensils
Introduction
Look at your hands. How many fingers do you have? Look at each finger—do you see lines that stretch from your fingers into the palm of your hand? Did you know that no one else has the same lines you do? Compare your hands with the person next to you. What do you notice? Look at my hands. How are they different? That’s right, you are the ONLY person with your fingerprints and your exact pattern of lines! Those are special to your identity—they are part of what makes you who you are.
Devotion
Did you know that when God made you, he created every inch of you on purpose? Your eyes, your hair, your nose, your mouth, your skin, your feet, your hands, your belly button, and every other part of your body was created JUST for you. He even created those lines on your hands to be in just the right places. YOU are one of God’s special children, and he loves you and thinks of you each day! Not only did God shape us with his hands, he has written the names of each one of his children on the palms of his hands. Listen to what he says in Isaiah 49:16 (ESV): “Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.” Wow! We are so loved and so important to God that he wrote YOUR name and MY name on his palms!
Activity
(Ask children to write their names on the palms of the cutout hands, or write their names for them.) When we look at these hands with everyone’s names on them, we can be reminded that God loves us SO much, and we can use his love to show love to each other.
Prayer
Dear Jesus, thank you for creating me on purpose. I am one of your very best creations! Thank you for loving me and writing my name on your hands. Help me show your love to others today. Amen.
Closing
Sing “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.”
