A NIGHT TO REMEMBER â—½ HOME
Have your kids seen the animated movie called Spookley the Square Pumpkin? It’s a cute watch, with a powerful message…and it’s sort of the backdrop for this month’s devo with the family. Find it on Netflix, watch it together, then print out this lesson and enjoy what you’ve learned.
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Preparation: Watch Spookley the Square Pumpkin or just read this synopsis, before you begin. Spookley is a square pumpkin in a pumpkin patch, so he’s the only one different from the rest of the round pumpkins. He gets teased and begins to feel bad about himself…until near the end of the story he saves the day because he’s square! Grab a bowl and fill it with some fall snacks like candy corn and popcorn, or whatever your family enjoys. Share it together as you learn.
Every one of us is made in the image of God, as we read in Genesis 1:27. And we are not all made to look alike. In fact, each of us is different from the other and we aren’t to make fun of or tease others because they’re different.
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Think about your own family. How are we all different? (different ages, heights, hair color, interests, etc.) Even in our own little family, we are different, yet we all love each other and work together.
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Spend a couple minutes complimenting each other’s differences.
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Think about your friends and the people you know. Who stands out as being “different” and why? (maybe a neighbor has a different skin color, or a friend ‘s dad has a tattoo, or that girl at school is in a wheelchair.) Have you seen others make fun of people that are different? John 3:16 says God loves the world, and that means everyone…so we should too.
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Spend a few minutes sharing times you’ve seen others make fun of different kids, or when you have, and ask God for forgiveness.
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Think about yourself. Do you ever feel “different” and are you ever made fun of by others? Spookley was square and the others were round, and he got teased. Have you ever been teased? How did it make you feel? (Let the family share, including the parents, a time when they were teased.) Teasing someone because they’re different hurts their hearts and wounds their souls.
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Spend a minute or too sharing your own feelings about how you’re made or how you look, or how you live.
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At the end of the story, Spookley ends up saving the day because of his being different. We are all different and all beautiful in God’s eyes, so we should see ourselves and others as beautiful.
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Spend the last few minutes talking about how it’s okay and even cool to be different from the rest of the patch. We are going to be seen as “different” when we choose to not gossip or disobey. Others might tease us for the clothes we wear or the freckles on our skin, or the way we walk or play. And while it hurts when we are teased, we must also realize how it hurts others to be teased as well.
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How can we look at people and not see their differences and make fun, but rather see the beauty in who they are and love them? How can we see ourselves as wonderfully made?
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Jesus is a good example. He spoke to those that were lonely, went about healing the sick, invited little children to sit near him, and told stories about how to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.
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Spookley was different just because he wasn’t made like the others. And we are all different in some way, but God has a purpose – a big one and a good one – for our lives when we follow Him!