A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest,
and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
and want like an armed man.
Proverbs 6: 10-11, ESV
I've never been a bug person, even as a child, you were much more likely to find me safely indoors with a book in hand than running or playing outside. It's too bad, because I probably missed out on some pretty interesting things happening right in my backyard!
Ants, for example, are pretty interesting to watch and learn from. When you look up "lessons from an ant" on Google, you'll find a myriad of blog posts about ants, their leadership and work habits. Even LinkedIn has a blog post entitled "5 Life Lessons We Can Learn from Ants."
The Bible also uses ants as an example of diligence and hard work. Just take a look at Proverbs 6: 6-7 "Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise! Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work, they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter."
This week as we look at what Proverbs says about hard work and laziness, we want to help kids understand that while diligence means working hard at something little by little, the opposite is also true. Laziness becomes a habit - little by little. A little sleep, a little slumber... and soon laziness becomes a way of living. Read through this week's family devotion together and have a discussion about ants and working hard for Jesus! Here's a good short read about "Dangerous Laziness", written by the Gospel Project.
By the way, there is mention of the Disney short "the Grasshopper and the Ants" in this week's devotion. If you would like to show this to the kids, it's available on Disney+.
Mission: SPAM
We are 2 weeks into Mission: SPAM and we're on our way to donating more than 500 non-perishable items to the Food Bank! Not only that but there are still a few surprises from the Ignite Teens. This week, we have a really cute Spam Masubi craft for the kids. Naomi made a tiny Spam Masubi and she shows you step-by-step right here on the blog!
SPAM MASUBI CRAFT
Materials
Oven-bake clay in the following colours:
- White
- Black
- Pink-Reddish-Brown (you can make your perfect colour by mixing it with other colours).
Instructions
Step 1: Gather your oven-bake clay.
Step 2: Roll the white oven-bake clay until it's pliable and shape it into a round-rectangle. This will be your "rice"!
Step 3: You'll need to make your Spam. Mix your colours (pink, yellow and a little black) together until you have the perfect Spam. 
Step 4: Voila! Spam-colour!!
Step 5: Shape your clay until it looks like a thin slice of Spam.
Step 6: Add the "Spam" to the "rice". 
Step 7: Let's get started on the nori (seaweed). Take your black and roll it out until it's thin and flat.
Step 8: Wrap the seaweed around your Spam Masubi.
Step 9: Add a happy face to your Spam Masubi, if you want. 
Step 10: With your parents, and following the baking instructions, put your Spam Masubi in the oven!!! You now have your very own oven-baked clay Spam Masubi. 
When you see your Spam Masubi, remember this: Serve, Provide, Aid and Minister!!!