Striving Daily Grade 2 Set 2 Lesson 6

WELCOME

By following God’s commandments, we show our faithfulness and desire to align with His will. We strive to live by His teachings daily. For example, we pray daily even when tired, avoid gossip, treat animals kindly, and engage in worthy professions. We reflect daily on our actions to better follow His teachings. There are many other commandments for both individual and community life, such as those regarding marriage, education, and burial.

PRAYER

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.

Bahá’u’lláh

QUOTE

By following God’s commandments, we show our faithfulness and desire His will. We strive to live by His teachings daily, praying even when tired and avoiding gossip. We treat animals kindly, are courteous, and engage in worthy professions. We reflect daily to better align with God’s teachings, which cover individual and community life, such as marriage and education. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá taught us to practice these teachings “little by little, day by day,” focusing on God’s mercy rather than our shortcomings. Let’s memorize these words of Bahá’u’lláh to help us adhere to God’s teachings every day:

O Son of Man! Neglect not My commandments if thou lovest My beauty, and forget not My counsels if thou wouldst attain My good pleasure

Bahá’u’lláh

MEANING OF WORDS

Neglect

Krista has a beautiful plant, which she looks after.  If she does not water it and put it in the sun, it will not grow anymore.  Krista knows that if she neglects the plant, it will die.

Ho crossed the street without looking to see whether any cars were coming and almost got hit.  Ho neglected to look before crossing the street.

MEMORIZATION AID FOR QUOTE

SONG

STORY

A Story of Haji Muhammad

Draw any part of the story use one of the templates below

You will remember the story of Haji Muhammad from our last lesson, how obedient he was to Baha’u’llah, and what strength he drew from trust in God.

 But Haji Muhammad was not always so quick to obey.  Perhaps you know that he was an excellent marksman.  His bullets never missed their targets.  He could even hit a small bird in full flight while galloping on horseback.  One day, with his rifle on his shoulder, he came upon a group of Baha’is who were on an outing with Baha’u’llah and decided to join them.

When Baha’u’llah saw that Haji Muhammad was going to use his rifle, He told him not to kill innocent birds.  Haji Muhammad did not pay any attention to what Baha’ullah said because his mind was on shooting, which he loved very much.  So, he continued shooting at every bird he saw.  But he was quite surprised to find that none of his bullets hit.  He shot once, he shot twice, he shot many times – but did not bring down even one bird.  He shot at big birds and at little birds, without any success. 

The group was returning from the outing when a large, beautiful, white bird caught Haji Muhammad’s eye.  It was so big that it could not fly quickly, and Haji Muhammad thought that surely it would be easy to hit this one.  His first shot missed.  Then he fired four more times, but he missed every time.  In a panic, the frightened bird flew near them.  Haji Muhammad thought that now he could not possibly miss.  He fired two more shots, but the bird escaped.  

Haji Muhammad was astonished, and he began to think about the whole incident.  All of a sudden, he understood something very important.  He realized that Baha’u’llah had given him a clear command, but in his preoccupation with his own wishes and desires, he had ignored Baha’u’llah.  That day Haji Muhammad made a firm decision to obey the commandments of God at all times.

DRAMA

The following activities will strengthen the children’s skills and abilities in drama:

As always, start by having the children stand in their imaginary squares and do the stretching exercise.

Now explain to your students that, for the next activity, they are going to communicate using only the “Stop!” with their hands
“Yes” using their head
“I don’t understand” using their eyes
“I hear something” using their ears
“I’m surprised” using their jaw
“I smell fresh bread” using their nose
“Come here!” using their finger
“I’m running” using arms,
“I bump into a wall” using the shoulder
“I’m slipping” using their legs
“I’m tired” using their whole body,
“I’m waiting” using the whole body and
“I’m looking for someone” using whole body

Divide the students into groups of five or six.  Have the children in each group stand in a row, with their hands on the shoulders of the child in front of them

Bus Exercise:

  1. All children close their eyes except the child at the end of each row, who is the “driver”.
  2. On “Go!”, the “driver” steers the “bus” (other children) by gently pushing shoulders to turn right or left.
  3. To stop, the “driver” pulls on both shoulders.

Improvisation Exercise:

Explain the difference between diligence and carelessness. Divide the children into pairs and ask them to listen quietly to the scene:

  1. Children live in the mountains and must go to the market for vegetables.
  2. They encounter a herd of sheep and carefully navigate through it.
  3. At the river, they row across without stopping, or they’ll drift downstream.
  4. They resist playing football with friends, remembering their promise to their mother.
  5. On the way back, they choose a shorter, less beautiful path to return home quickly.

CRAFTS

Unite the hearts of thy servants

Print the prayer for the right flap. Add the interactive components of uniting the heart. example video below.

My template here can be modified for this. This site also has a simple slider card that can be used.

Sun Idea

How to put into practice the teachings of God and acquire spiritual qualities.

Cut out a large sun shape and glue the words of ‘Abdu’l-Baha “kam kam, ruz beh ruz”, which means “little by little, day by day. You can also do a folded card with a sun on the front and a moon on the inside and split the words on the two pages.

TURNING PAPER PLATES

LAPBOOK

Make a flying bird

REVIEW QUOTE

Remind the children of the qualities of trustworthiness and radiance and the quotations they memorized in Grade 1:

Supremely lofty will be thy station, if thou remainest steadfast in the Cause of thy Lord

 Baha’u’llah

Happy is the faithful one who is attired with the vesture of high endeavor and hath arisen to serve this Cause

Baha’u’llah

RESOURCE

POWERPOINT AND IMAGES FOR QUOTE

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