Spring Flowers Say So Much about Our Faith (Lesson & Flower Craft Ideas)
Spring is the season when flowers start to bloom. Late April, in many regions, should bring daffodils and tulips and lilacs and other colorful blooms, and you may want to use them in Sunday school lessons, both in April and May. Flowers can make anybody smile…and God knows that. He designed them as reminders of how beautiful and good he is! Below are some important Biblical messages that flowers can teach along with an accompanying scripture that reinforces the theme. Beyond that are a few flower craft ideas—how to make cool blooms to go with your lessons!
Important Biblical Messages You Can Teach Using Flowers
Use ugly bulbs to teach death and resurrection.
As the time for bulbs is fall, you may need to use a picture of an ugly bulb. It’s what we put into the ground in the fall, when everything is dying. What comes up in the spring is not ugly…and it doesn’t resemble what was put into the ground! Bulbs teach that when we die, our aging and decrepit bodies may be cast away and forgotten. But it’s really just the beginning! In heaven, we will be like the tulips and daffodils. What’s inside of us now as Christians will bear beautiful fruit for eternity.
1 CORINTHIANS
15:42‐44:
SO
WILL
IT
BE
WITH
THE
RESURRECTION
OF
THE
DEAD.
THE
BODY
THAT
IS
SOWN
IS
PERISHABLE,
IT
IS
RAISED
IMPERISHABLE;
IT
IS
SOWN
IN
DISHONOR,
IT
IS
RAISED
IN
GLORY;
IT
IS
SOWN
IN
WEAKNESS,
IT
IS
RAISED
IN
POWER;
IT
IS
SOWN
A
NATURAL
BODY,
IT
IS
RAISED
A
SPIRITUAL
BODY.
Use buds and their corresponding blooms to teach about God’s timing.
How long does it take a rose bud to bloom? Usually weeks. If you have tea roses in your yard, you may already have some buds on them. Take them inside and place them in water to speed up the blooming process. If you show your students buds and blooms, it provides a great lesson on patience. All children are like buds. Often they want to grow up very fast and be more like grownups. But it takes a long time to “bloom.” God wants us to be patient in our spiritual maturity. We may have more trials in life exercising patience and learning to wait than with the learning of any other virtue!
JAMES
5:7‐8:
BE
PATIENT,
THEN,
BROTHERS
AND
SISTERS,
UNTIL
THE
LORD’S
COMING.
SEE
HOW
THE
FARMER
WAITS
FOR
THE
LAND
TO
YIELD
ITS
VALUABLE
CROP,
PATIENTLY
WAITING
FOR
THE
AUTUMN
AND
SPRING
RAINS.
YOU
TOO,
BE
PATIENT
AND
STAND
FIRM,
BECAUSE
THE
LORD’S
COMING
IS
NEAR.
The fragrance of blooms teaches the value of intimacy with God.
Blooms often look beautiful. But it’s only when we get up close that we notice how great they smell. We almost have to stick our noses right into a lilac to get that overwhelming good scent. In that sense, flowers are a little like God. Many people know that God is loving and God is good. But to experience all the blessings he has to offer, we have to get up right close to Him! We can’t stand far off from God and still catch His magnificent scent.
JEREMIAH
33:3:
CALL
TO
ME
AND
I
WILL
ANSWER
YOU,
AND
WILL
TELL
YOU
GREAT
AND
HIDDEN
THINGS
THAT
YOU
HAVE
NOT
KNOWN.
A spring bouquet can teach lessons in the body of Christ.
A spring bouquet is special because it is so colorful, and because all the flowers have such different shapes. They’re a lot like people in the body of Christ. Some of us are gifted artists; others are gifted in hospitality and friendliness. Others are builders; some are good leaders. Some are quiet prayer warriors. But God makes us all. Just like it takes red, yellow, purple and orange blooms to make a spring bouquet—some cascading and some standing straight up—it takes all sorts to make our world go around. We should appreciate everyone’s gifts and talents, not just our own!
1 CORINTHIANS
12:27‐31
NOW
YOU
ARE
THE
BODY
OF
CHRIST,
AND
EACH
ONE
OF
YOU
IS
A
PART
OF
IT.
AND
GOD
HAS
PLACED
IN
THE
CHURCH
FIRST
OF
ALL
APOSTLES,
SECOND
PROPHETS,
THIRD
TEACHERS,
THEN
MIRACLES,
THEN
GIFTS
OF
HEALING,
OF
HELPING,
OF
GUIDANCE,
AND
OF
DIFFERENT
KINDS
OF
TONGUES.
ARE
ALL
APOSTLES?
ARE
ALL
PROPHETS?
ARE
ALL
TEACHERS?
DO
ALL
WORK
MIRACLES?
DO
ALL
HAVE
GIFTS
OF
HEALING?
DO
ALL
SPEAK
IN
TONGUES?
DO
ALL
INTERPRET?
NOW
EAGERLY
DESIRE
THE
GREATER
GIFTS.
Bees and butterflies can teach the importance of spreading the gospel.
Bees and butterflies are responsible for carrying the pollen of a flower from one part of the garden to another. That way, beautiful flowers are created in spots where they were not planted. Some bees can seem scary because they sting; some butterflies are scary because they appear to have frightening faces on their wings! Bees and butterflies are a little like us people. Just like they are responsible to spread the pretty blooms of gardens, we are responsible to spread the good news that Jesus gave us. Each time we witness about Jesus, we are spreading His love somewhere new. We may not have ‘planted’ the gospel—Jesus and His disciples and the prophets did that. But we can spread His love around and create great spiritual blooms in places where there were only bulb-like people before!
LUKE
10:2:
AND
HE
SAID
TO
THEM,
“THE
HARVEST
IS
PLENTIFUL,
BUT
THE
LABORERS
ARE
FEW.
THEREFORE
PRAY
EARNESTLY
TO
THE
LORD
OF
THE
HARVEST
TO
SEND
OUT
LABORERS
INTO
HIS
HARVEST.
Flower Craft Ideas: Great Ways to Make Paper Flowers!
Here are some of the coolest paper flower crafts that you can combine with lessons. All are easy and don’t require obscure materials!
These paper flowers are explained in detail at http://www.instructables.com/id/Simple-Paper-Flowers/. They are so easy that kids can make them with a little help from the adults on hand. Some of the crafters who tried them also posted pictures, so you can see variations.
Why stop with one flower when you can make a whole bouquet? For more industrious teachers, there are instructions for easy bouquets on TLC’s “How Stuff Works,” http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/family/paper-flowers4.htm.
These lollipop flowers are easy enough for three-year-olds to do with a little help. They are found on Spoonful’s website at http://spoonful.com/crafts/lollipop-flowers.
The easiest instructions yet for tissue paper flowers can be found on firstpalette.com’s web site. They also provide step-by-step photos for those who feel craft-challenged. Go to www.firstpalette.com, and type “tissue paper flowers” into the top search window.
Also from firstpalette.com, these adorable paper flowers are made with easy heart-shaped petals and wrapping or craft paper, and they are held by stems made out of drinking straws. Go to www.firstpalette.com, and type “heart flowers” into the top search window.
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