LESSON 5: LOVE OF GOD & OBEDIENCE
Out of His infinite love, God has given us laws and teachings to live by. These laws and teachings are like lamps that illuminate our path. Through their light, we are able to see how it is that God wants us to live. As we obey His commandments, we draw closer to Him; otherwise, we would find ourselves in darkness and we lose our way. So it is that out of our love for God and our desire to attain His good pleasure, we obey the laws and teachings He has so graciously given to us. Love for God moves us to act in ways that are pleasing to Him.
For lessons 5 and 6 we will continue to memorize the prayer below
O my God! O my God! Unite the hearts of Thy servants, and reveal to them Thy great purpose. May they follow Thy commandments and abide in Thy law. Help them, O God, in their endeavor, and grant them strength to serve Thee. O God! Leave them not to themselves, but guide their steps by the light of Thy knowledge, and cheer their hearts by Thy love. Verily, Thou art their Helper and their Lord
The Tongue of My power hath, from the heaven of My omnipotent glory, addressed to My creation these words: ‘Observe My commandments, for the love of My beauty
Bahá’u’lláh
MEANING OF WORDS
Address
Once a year all the students in the school gather to hear the principal speak. The principal addresses the students each year.
Koichi always speaks to his grandmother with love and humility. Koichi addresses his grandmother with respect.
Observe
The traffic light turned red, Ethel brought to a stop the car she was driving. Ethel was careful to observe the traffic law.
Marisol was always quiet when she visited the library, where the people are asked to remain silent or to speak in whispers. She always observed the rules of the library.
Commandments
Samuel says his prayers every day in the morning and at night. Praying daily is one of the commandments of God. By praying Samuel is following God’s commandment.
Teresa never tells lies. She obeys God’s commandment to be truthful.
MEMORIZATION AID FOR QUOTE
PICTURES TO REMEMBER THE QUOTE HERE
A Story of Haji Muhammad
Haji Muhammad lived during the time of Baha’u’llah, Who, as you know, revealed God’s teachings for today. Haji Muhammad was honest in all his dealings as a businessman and was known for his trustworthiness. For a period of time, his work brought him to ‘Akka. One day, he was sitting in his office when ‘Abdu’l-Baha entered, bringing an urgent message from Baha’u’llah. Haji Muhammad was to leave immediately for the city of Jeddah in Arabia. He asked ‘Abdu’l-Baha whether he could have the bounty of attaining the presence of Baha’u’llah before departing. ‘Abdu’l-Baha explained that there was no time as the ship was due to leave at any moment. Haji Muhammad closed the office at once and headed straight for the port to board the ship. His desire to obey was so exemplary that he had no other thought but to follow the command of Baha’u’llah.
As soon as Haji Muhammad boarded, the ship set sail. Only then did he realize that, because of the great rush, he had not thought to ask ‘Abdu’l-Baha the purpose of his trip to Arabia. Now it was too late! Still, he was not concerned. He was certain that, once he arrived in Jeddah, God would guide his steps.
The sea that day was unusually stormy, and the journey fraught with peril. Everyone was worried that the ship was going to sink – everyone, that is, except for Haji Muhammad. He knew that he would be protected and the ship would arrive safely in Jeddah, for he had been entrusted by Baha’u’llah with a mission to carry out in that city. And the ship did indeed arrive at its destination.
After leaving the ship, Haji Muhammad heard two people talking in Persian among the crowds. Being Persian himself, he approached them and discovered that they, too, were Baha’is and were on their way to Akka to visit Baha’u’llah. They had been unjustly imprisoned for their faith for ten years and had just been released. This was their first journey to the Holy Land, and they were in need of assistance. It became clear to Haji Muhammad that the purpose of his mission in Jeddah was to help these two souls to find their way to ‘Akka and attain the presence of Baha’u’llah, a responsibility which he carried out with great care and attention.
**modified from Revelation of Baha”u’llah vol.4 – Adib Taherzadeh
Draw any part of the story
DRAMA / GAMES
The activities that follow will help the children continue developing the skills and abilities of creative drama.
- Ask your students to stand in their imaginary squares. You may have them do the stretching exercise described in Lesson 2.
- Now tell the children to stretch their arms out at shoulder length and rotate them slowly, making small circles. Gradually the circles should become bigger and bigger. As they do this exercise, their arms will feel heavier and heavier. Tell the children that when their arms feel very heavy, they should let them drop and shake them out.
- For this next exercise, the children are to work outside of their imaginary squares. Explain to them that you are going to call out a shape. Without speaking to one another they should position themselves so that together they form that shape. To do this, they will need to watch one another carefully and pay close attention to one another’s movements. It is suggested that you call out the following shapes: circle, triangle, square, straight line, crooked line.
The above exercise will help your students learn to pay attention to one another and coordinate their movements. It builds on the exercise in the preceding lesson in which they were moving around together in a large space. The next exercise will further their understanding of the theme of today’s lesson, that we obey God out of our love for Him.
Begin by asking the children to imagine they are passengers boarding the ship that Haji Muhammad sailed on to Jeddah. Once they are all aboard, the ship sets sail under the bright sun on clear and still waters. As the shore gradually fades from sight, everyone settles in for the long journey across the sea. At first, the sea is calm, but after a short time, waves begin to lap against the side of the boat. The ship starts to rock in the wavy sea. Ask the children to look toward the horizon; they see dark clouds fast approaching and hear the distant roll of thunder. The passengers begin to feel afraid. As the waves become bigger and the darkness approaches, they huddle closer together. Have the children imagine that big drops of rain begin to fall from the sky. Suddenly, thunder cracks overhead, and waves crash against the side of the ship. The rain pours down as it is tossed from side to side. Many of the passengers fear that the ship will sink into the sea. Just when they think all is lost, the storm seems to pass. the rain, the wind, and the waves slowly begin to die down. Off in the distance, the passengers see the shores of a distant land. The sun gradually appears from behind the clouds, and the sea turns calm once again.
Now ask the children to re-enact the drama, only this time pretending to be like Haji Muhammad on his journey. How would they be different from the other passengers on the ship? Ask them to show that Haji Muhamamd felt assured and protected by God throughout all the journey because he knew that he was acting in obedience to Baha’u’llah, God’s Manifestation on earth.
Alternative: charades, acting out the different laws/commandments God has sent us.
Make the boat move up and down in the waves.
Use the method in the Lapbook section below
OR
Use this method to make a card. The template for the boat and waves are not useable for most people so cut or tear your own waves and draw your own boat
Rocking paper boat
This site has an easy boat that rocks for you to try
Egg cartoon boat
DRAW SCENES FROM THE STORY
Brilliant Star Magazine
Interactive Boat
Template boat here: Here
In Burlington, we put the interactive boat craft (instructions above) and the story (fold technique Turkish Map Fold ) below on one of the side flaps of the lapbook.
The boat is interactive and moves up and down in the waves.
This method can be used to assemble:
We used the instructions in the video above also it is written out below:
- Print pieces on colored cardstock.
- Cut all the pieces.
- The long lever goes through the semicircle in the base and a split pin (brad) attaches the two.
- The waves are laid on top of each other and glued. On the left and right edges, use foam tape (cardboard strips if no foam tape.) This is to keep the waves slightly up off the lever
- The boat is stuck to the top of the lever and the bottom of the ship is tucked in behind the waves
- Use the pieces (porthole, Steamer funnel, etc. to decorate the boat)
- lever when moved side to side will make the ship move from side to side.
Turkish Map Fold
The story is printed and a Turkish Map Fold is used to keep it in a nice square shape. A small square is attached to the front of the folded story when folded. These two elements were attached to the inside left flap of the lapbook. For how to fold a map, see the video below
Story to print and fold: Here
Review the quotation from today’s lesson, and then remind the children of the qualities of trustworthiness and radiance and the quotations they memorized in Grade 1:
The source of all glory is acceptance of whatsoever the Lord hath bestowed, and contentment with that which God hath ordained.
Tablets of Bahá’u’lláhRevealed after the Kitáb-i-Aqdas,
Trustworthiness is the greatest portal leading unto the tranquillity and security of the people.
Ṭarázát
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