(5–8 minutes, difficult set-up)
Learners will participate in a demonstration showing that strength is not always as important as being moldable by God.
Provide two thin fabric gloves and Elmer’s® glue. Prepare one glove as described below.
Obtain two thin fabric gloves. Do nothing to one of the gloves. Soak the other glove thoroughly in thinned white glue, then remove it from the glue and allow it to dry overnight (or longer depending on the glove’s saturation level). Note: This glove should be hard and difficult to move when dry.
Invite learners to examine the two gloves and describe their physical differences. After learners share their observations, ask: Which glove is stronger? Next, invite a volunteer to put on the gloves and attempt to pick up objects in the room of different sizes, such as a book, a pen, a piece of paper, and a piece of string or lint. As the volunteer attempts to pick up the large items, ask: How easily are you able to complete the task with each gloved hand? (For the larger items, the untreated glove easily completes the task while the hardened glove impedes the task.) As the volunteer attempts to pick up the smaller items, ask: What prevents the hardened glove from picking up these smaller items? (The hardened glove, while stronger, is not moldable and can’t bend and grip small items.) Ask: What makes the untreated glove more usable? (The untreated glove is soft and moldable so it bends and conforms to your hand to complete the tasks.)
Explain that in today’s lesson, learners will examine the importance of allowing themselves to be molded by God, trusting in His strength when they are weak, to do the things He calls them to do.