Unfolding a Rose
 

Ask:

(1) Are you ever depressed?
(2) Do you ever think everyone else has more than you?
(3) Do you ever think there must something much better than this?
 

Discuss their answers.
 

Then ask:

(1) Do we have rules in our house, and what are they?
(2) Do you have rules at school, and what are they?
(3) Are there rules to life, and what are they?
 

Discuss their answers.
 

Then ask, Why do we sometimes feel this way? Is there an easy answer to any of these questions?  Take a rosebud (or one for each family member - whatever you feel good about) and ask each person to open a rosebud without tearing off any petals.
 

As they try, read this poem:
 

It is only a tiny rosebud, A flower of God's design;
But I cannot unfold the petals With these clumsy hands of mine.

The secret of unfolding flowers Is not known to you and I.
GOD opens these flowers so sweetly,
While in my hands they fade and die.

If I cannot unfold a rosebud,
This flower of God's design,
Then how can I think I have wisdom
To unfold this life of mine?

So I'll trust in Him for leading Each moment of every day.
I will look to Him for His guidance Each step of the pilgrim way.

The pathway that lies before me,
Only my Heavenly Father knows.
I'll trust Him to unfold the moments, Just as He unfolds the rose.
 

Discuss the poem, and how it applies to the everyday struggles we each have. (An added part for this same subject that I have used with teens is below, it left the room very quiet as they dropped the pieces of paper in the trash can. A very powerful moment..............)
 

Then, give each person a piece of paper. Tell them to write down what it is that they want to accomplish in life more than anything else. Then, write down the next important thing they want to accomplish. Then, the next, the next, etc. Then give them a few moments to quietly contemplate what they want. (This is a good time to play in the background a version of the song "On Eagle's Wings"......Michael Crawford has a great CD with that song.)
 

After they have written it all down, ask them what they have to do in life to accomplish what they have written down. Are any of the things that were previously discussed a part of that---school, good grades, dating, etc.---but allow them to maintain their secrecy of what they have written down. Then take out a trash can, ask them to tear their paper in half, then tear it again, then tear it again, and again, until it is in tiny pieces. Then have them drop it in the trash can. Then leave them with the question--
 

"Are you willing to give up your future because you couldn't understand the why's of today?"

For more...read:  Unfolding of a Rose