Meditations for Children: Walk in the Woods

Close your eyes.  Take a deep breath. In...and out.  In...and out.  In...and out.

Imagine you are out walking in the woods.  It is a sunny day, but you are in the shade of the trees. It is cool and comfortable.  Look around you.  What kind of trees do you see?  Are there big ones? Small ones?  What kind of leaves do you see?  Are there long ones, rounded ones? Pine needles?  Perhaps there are a few leaves beginning to change color for fall.  Can you smell the sap from the trees?  Listen, you can hear the song of the birds.  Hear their song of praise to the Lord.  Hear the wind as it whispers through the trees.  Continue walking in your woods, and enjoy the peace that is there.

Now look around you.  You are far in the woods and cannot see your way home.  You are standing on the side of a hill.  You look down the hill and there are fewer trees, but up the hill you see a small path.  You must decide if you will take the way that seems easier, down the hill, where there are less trees.  Or head up the steep hill where there is a path.

There are many times in life that we have make a choice.  We can choose the way that seems easy or we an pick the way that at first might seem like climbing up a big hill.  But on that hill is a narrow path, a path to show us the way home.

Now begin walking home.  Jesus is just up ahead of us on the path.  He is there with us the whole way home.  Jesus is the way.  Follow him as you make your way home.

Now take a few more deep breaths, in...and out.  When you are ready, open your eyes.