The Nature Of Prayer
SET 1
Grade 2 Lesson 1
WELCOME
The Nature Of Prayer
Abdu’l-Baha tells us that prayer is a “conversation with God”.
When we pray, we speak to God.
When we love another, our greatest wish is to be close to the one we love and to express the love he feels. To understand the nature of prayer and why we pray, we would need to also look at the effects of prayer. We can ask God for things that we want, and He will answer our prayers in accordance with Divine wisdom.
We can pray for things related to the specific circumstances of our lives and for the development of spiritual qualities, both in ourselves and in others. We must understand that prayer is not just a time for us to make requests of God. Remember that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá tells us, “In the highest prayer, men pray only for the love of God, not because they fear Him or hell, or hope for bounty or heaven. . . .”
What are some of the things we pray for?
PRAYER
For the next 3 classes, we will memorize the following
O Lord! I am a child; enable me to grow beneath the shadow of Thy loving kindness. I am a tender plant; cause me to be nurtured through the outpourings of the clouds of Thy bounty. I am a sapling of the garden of love; make me into a fruitful tree. Thou art the Mighty and the Powerful, and Thou art the All-Loving, the All-Knowing, the All-Seeing.
'Abdu’l-Bahá
SONGS
I Want To Be Happy
STRIVE THAT DAY BY DAY
BOUNDLESS LOVE
QUOTE
Remember that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá tells us that prayer is “Conversation With God”
Through our prayers, we speak to God of our love for Him. We love God and our greatest wish is to be close to God and to express the love we feel. We know that even though God knows what is in our hearts, still we want to tell Him of our love for Him and thank Him for the bounties that He has showered upon us.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá lived in a state of prayer. His heart was always turned towards God. He often mentioned that there is nothing sweeter in life than prayer. When we converse with God each day, our love for Him grows stronger, and we feel closer to Him. Our hearts are opened, and enkindled with His love, and our souls become joyful. God loves us more than we can possibly imagine. So it is that we constantly receive His bounties as we pray to Him to guide us, protect us, and help us become worthy of His love. To aid us in our efforts to live our lives in a state of prayer, with our hearts always turned towards God, let us memorize the following quotation:
MEANING OF WORDS
Intone
She stood before the meeting with her head bowed and her eyes closed. Silence filled the room. Then she lifted her head and began to intone the verses of God in a melodious voice.
Bahereh taught her children to intone beautiful prayers at the beginning of each new day and in the evening before they slept.
WHO WANTS TO PRACTICE INTONING THEIR NAME? (have a few kids do this)
Kindled
The grass in the field was very dry. In the intense heat of the summer, the dry grass kindled, and the fire spread to the edge of town.
After reading a few passages from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, Florence felt the love of God kindled in her heart.
Attract
We enjoy looking at flowers because they are beautiful. We are attracted to their beauty.
When we feel God’s love, we want to be near Him. Our hearts are attracted to God by the power of His love.
STORY
Story Of Ruhu’llah
When Ruhu’llah was about seven years old, he travelled with his father to the Holy Land. There he had the great privilege of meeting Baha’u’llah, Who had brought to humanity God’s message for this day. Ruhu’llah’s heart became filled with love for Baha’u’llah, and he wanted nothing more than to serve Him. Upon returning home to Persia, he spent his time sharing with others news of Baha’u’llah’s coming. Ruhu’llah was truthful, honest, courteous and kind, and his words had great effect on all who heard him. He rose at every dawn to pray and, with his heart turned towards God, passed each day in servitude to Him.
One day, Ruhu’llah was summoned to appear before an official. At that time, many people were fearful of the new message that was being spread throughout the land. They clung to beliefs of the past, and the followers of the new Faith often became victims of harsh punishments. For this reason, Ruhu’llah’s father was in great danger. As proof that he had raised his sons in this new Faith, Ruhu’llah was asked to say a prayer in the presence of the official. This, it was hoped, would be enough to convince the official to condemn his father. Calmly, Ruhu’llah prepared his heart to offer supplication to God. Then, in a melodious voice, he chanted a Baha’i prayer with exquisite beauty. The official was deeply moved. He dismissed the matter immediately, saying he would not condemn a man who had raised a child so wonderful. And so Ruhu’llah’s father was saved.
Later, when Ruhu’llah was about twelve years old, he would once again set out with his father to visit the Holy Land. This time, he would be blessed to pass his days in the presence of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, who loved Ruhu’llah very much and especially enjoyed hearing him chant in his beautiful voice the many prayers he knew by heart. Ruhu’llah would leave the Holy Land ablaze with Divine love, ready to sacrifice his all for the Cause of God.
DRAMA
There are two types of activities related to drama in these lessons. The first set of activities is concerned with the development of skills and abilities.
To acquire the discipline yet freedom of movement needed to participate in creative drama, the children must learn to control their actions within a defined space. The following activities will contribute to the development of this ability
- Have your children stand about two meters apart from one another. Each child should imagine that he or she is standing in a square measuring about one and a half meters by one and a half meters. Ask them to draw with their eyes the boundaries of their imaginary squares. Then, have each of them walk along the border of his or her own square.
- Next, tell them to imagine that there is a rope about half a meter above the ground stretching across the middle of each of their squares. Ask them to jump over it, crawl under it, walk along it, hop along it, and go around it without leaving their squares.
The children also need to learn to cooperate and work together. The following activities will help them develop some of the corresponding activities.
- Divide the youngsters into pairs. Think of a very heavy object that is familiar to them and ask each pair to pretend that they are carrying it together.
- Ask the pair to pretend they are digging a well together.
- Now tell them to imagine that one of the children’s mother has invited a guest over, but the guest has arrived early before the mother has returned home from work. One child in each pair is the guest. The other child invites the guest in and offers him or her something refreshing to drink while they wait for the mother.
The second type of activity is related to the theme of the lesson, the state of prayer. Tell the children that they are going to improvise a situation about the state of prayer.
- Have the children return to their imaginary squares. Once they are in position, explain to them that, although we pray to God with words asking for God’s blessings and bounties. All created things are praying to God. A plant, for example, needs rain to grow. By its very existence, the plant prays, “O God! Send me rain!”
- Tell the children to pretend they are in a field of corn. For some days there has been no rain on the field How do they look? Days pass, but there is not a could in the sky. The plants droop more and more, day by day. Silently, they are praying. Then, suddenly, there is a clap of thunder in the distance which grows louder and louder. You can use your hands or some instrument to make the clap of thunder. Then start slowly tapping on something, pretending to be rain. Gradually tap faster and faster. The rain has come, and little by little, the plants raise their drooping leaves.
CRAFTS
There are many crafts and activity suggestions for you to consider. TIP: Gather all the required supplies ahead of time.
Call and talk to God
Decorate the cell phone. Remember that prayer is a conversation with God
Door Hanger
For Template 1
Print and cut the round template. The top part is decorated and stuck to the base. The base can be cut from cardboard. to do this print the base and use it as a template to cut the cardboard. Note that you can use a piece of ribbon and glue it in between the base and the top to form a loop and hang it on the door. A string is threaded through the hole and then the craft can be hung on a door.
For Template 2 and 3
Print and Cut the straight template or use the 9-pointed star one below. Add your own message and decorate.
For Template 4
Decorate the Prayer
Decorate the frame of the prayer or use the blank template to write your prayer in the shape and decorate it. You can also use any shape you like. My daughter and I did this activity years ago from Varga Magazine. We used the shape of a bird.
LAPBOOK
For anyone interested in creating a lapbook for each lesson or for each set (3 lessons) visit my lapbook post on ” What is a lapbook? “ and the first mini-books for this lesson
