Washed Away! Erosion #3 - Scripture & Character

"And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook,

and put them in a shepherd’s bag which he had, even in a scrip; 

and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine."

I chose the subject of the scripture/character portion of our unit because of a song I dearly love which was written for a musical production* of the story of David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17). As David chooses his five smooth stones for use in smiting Goliath, he ponders about and vows to be a smooth stone himself in God's hands.

One Smooth Stone*

One smooth stone is all I need

To fly straight and true, and not lose speed

If the edges are rough it'l go its own way

I need one smooth stone today

The task is great, the odds are small

But the righteous aren't always the big and the tall

With God on my side, I am never alone

All I need is one smooth stone

We all have our wills, and we all have our plans

But God gives us more than we understand

If we're willing to go

Through the storms He commands

And be one smooth stone in His hands

One smooth stone will be plenty today

But at times the wind changes and stones go astray

God has many prepared but he calls just a few

So I'll find more than one stone, too

One smooth stone is what I'll be

So the Lord can do what He wants with me

I'll prepare myself to be worthy to stand

And be one smooth stone in His hands

This song, as well as the entire soundtrack, is awesome; I wish there were a way to share it in its musical entirety here. 

So, my kids have watched the video and listened to the soundtrack many times, but I wanted to really focus on this particular song and the purpose and analogy in a smooth stone.  We read the scriptural account, listened to the song (and kids used it for copywork), studied the historical context of slings and stones as well as the science behind it, and discussed what it all meant and why and how to apply it to our personal lives.

The other specific character lesson was discussing a quote from Buddha and creating personal beautiful posters with it for reminders. Here is one of them.

*"One Smooth Stone" is one of many wonderful songs written by Aaron Edson.  David and Goliath is one of many great musical adaptations of scripture stories from Liken the Scriptures.