Patience

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Game to start

Kick off the assembly with a couple of games around the theme of patience (loosely)…

Staring Game – at least two volunteers. In this, the two volunteers have to come up to the front and have to stare at each other for as long as possible. The one who blinks first loses. If you have lots of volunteers, the winner stays on…

30 second talking game – in this game, you have one person come up front and give them an issue. They must talk on this subject without messing up for at least 30 seconds (put it up to 1 minute if you’re feeling nasty…) Here are some themes we used:

  • Canadian Geese
  • Strictly Come Dancing (or another current show)
  • The amazing teachers standing in the room
  • Dr Who and the Tardis  
  • Animation and CGI techniques in the 21st Century
  • The local football club
  • Chocolate bars
  • Why hoodies should be banned

Say

We live in a world where we want everything now. We can get drive through meals, instant coffee, microwave food, always on internet, mobile phones so people can get us anytime, watch iPlayer, YouTube and streaming websites. We live in a country with lots of things we can buy – clothes, food and more. People have credit cards so they can buy stuff at any time. In some countries, the malls have 2 shifts, a kind of 9-4 then an evening shift. All-night supermarkets mean we can buy food, fuel at any time. TV keeps on going through the day and night… 

Wait!!!

But this can make it really hard to wait. But some things we have to wait for! You can’t legally drive until you’re 17, you can’t drive in some US states til you’re 21. You can’t vote until you’re 18 in the UK. In other ways, we have to wait – a farmer doesn’t just plant seed and it suddenly grow into a huge crop. Instead, he has to wait. A baby takes up to 9 months in the mum’s womb before it’s ready to be born. In the same way, we have to wait for stuff… 

I play guitar and it’s taken time to learn and get better. I’ve had to play and not do well, learn from others and keep going. Then I bought one guitar and it wasn’t a great sound. I had to wait and get the money before buying a new guitar. I couldn’t just get it as soon as I wanted it.

Thomas Edison (taken from internet sources)

Thomas Edison only attended school for 3 months. He was declared backward by his head teacher and was withdrawn from school by his annoyed mother. At the age of 12 he earned money selling newspapers on a train and soon began printing his own paper in the guard’s van and doing experiments, until his chemicals managed to set the whole train alight! By age 16 he was a telegraph operator, although not a very good one! However, he made up for his failings by inventing the ticker tape machine which put him out of his own job! He went to New York aged 22 where he started fixing things for people. He patented 1093 inventions that included the record player, the light bulb and the first cine camera! Talking of his success, Edision said that genius was one per cent inspiration and 99 per cent perspiration! Patience and perseverance made him and his inventions.

The Bible says…

We pray that you’ll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy.

Colossians 1.11 from The Message version

Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.

James 1.3-4 from The Message version

Sometimes, patience is the only way to develop your character and your skills, so don’t try to avoid waiting. Sometimes it’s the best thing that can happen!!

Stories from the Bible

Moses (Prince of Egypt). The people of Israel were in slavery in Egypt. Moses was told by God to go to the Pharaoh (the ruler of Egypt) to demand that Pharaoh let the Israelites go free. Ten times Moses went to Pharaoh and asked again and again but each time Pharaoh refused. Only on the tenth time did Pharaoh say OK, you are free to leave Egypt. Patience and perseverance played a huge part for Moses and the people of Israel going free.

Joseph – had so much bad stuff happen to him it was unbelievable. But he had a dream and he just kept going. He was sold into slavery by his brothers. That’s like coming home and finding out your older brother had sold you to traders, taken to another country and made to be a slave. Then he did really well, became the top man in his master’s house but was wrongly accused of rape and thrown into prison. Then he did well in prison and was put in charge of the prisoners. Then he helped the Pharaoh but was forgotten about. Then ages later he was released from prison and became Prime Minister. 

Say

We often feel like giving up but often it’s at these times that we need to keep going. Someone has said that 99 per cent of people aren’t defeated, they simply quit too early. McDonalds has a logo saying there are many unsuccessful people in the world with good ideas. What more did they need? Perseverance – not giving up. To make sure we are all that we can be, we need determination.