Step Out the Right Way
Make the right decisions!
by Alexandra Palmer
Suitable for Key Stage 2
Aims
To consider the importance of making the right decision, even when it is difficult.
Preparation and materials
- You will need the PowerPoint slides that accompany this assembly (Step Out the Right Way) and the means to display them.
- Have available the YouTube video ‘David serves Saul’ and the means to show it during the assembly. It is 4.16 minutes long and is available at: https://youtu.be/41vnmcocZ1A
Assembly
- Tell the children that today, we’re going to be talking about how we can ‘step out the right way’.
Show Slide 1.
Ask the children what they think this phrase means.
Pause to allow time for discussion, and then listen to a range of responses. - Show Slide 2.
Explain that stepping out the right way means making the right decisions or choices. For example, with our families, we might decide to play games fairly rather than cheating, or we might decide not to wind up family members on purpose.
If we’re with our friends at the park, we might decide to treat others kindly while we’re waiting for a turn on the swings, or we might make the right decision about where to cross the road on the way home.
In addition, we might decide to achieve our goals in the right way, by working hard. - Tell the children that you are going to show them a video that tells a story from the Old Testament. David, who was going to become the next king of Israel, was being treated badly by Saul, who was the current king. David needed to make some decisions about how he should treat Saul.
Show the YouTube video ‘David serves Saul’ (4.16 minutes long). - Explain to the children that we can summarize how David decided to do things the right way by using an acronym for WAY: Wise, Attitude, Yes.
- Show Slide 3.
When David was in the cave with his army and Saul came in, his men thought that it was the perfect opportunity to get rid of Saul and make David king. However, David had to be wise. He knew that he was going to be the next king of Israel, but he needed to show good sense and judgement. He had to decide whether he should listen to his men or stick to what he thought was the right thing to do. - Show Slide 4.
When David became king, he would be leading a nation of people and a small army. Even though Saul was being mean and treating David badly, David had to show the right attitude in his decision-making towards his leader and king. Otherwise, in future, other people would adopt the same attitude towards David as David had shown towards Saul. - Show Slide 5.
David said that he would never hurt Saul, and that he wouldn’t harm Saul’s family after Saul died and David became king.
David agreed this with Saul and used his ‘yes’ wisely because he wanted to keep his promise, not break it. - Show Slide 6.
Ask the children, ‘How can we be wise?’
Pause to allow time for discussion, and then listen to a range of responses. - Show Slide 7.
Tell the children that there are lots of ways in which we can be wise. For example, we can be patient, learn from our mistakes, think before we speak, listen well and read to educate ourselves, be humble, be respectful, be kind and be grateful. - Show Slide 8.
Ask the children, ‘What is the right attitude?’
Pause to allow time for discussion, and then listen to a range of responses. - Show Slide 9.
Tell the children that the right attitude involves using positive words, thinking positively, focusing on what we need to do and completing it, smiling and being happy, being happy for others’ success and volunteering and helping others. - Show Slide 10.
Ask the children, ‘When do we say yes?’
Pause to allow time for discussion, and then listen to a range of responses. - Show Slide 11.
Tell the children that we say yes when it feels right to us. If we feel uneasy, or like we’re being pressurized, we say no. We say yes to open doors to new opportunities, to learn new skills, when we have time to help others and when we want to have fun in a positive way.
Time for reflection
Show Slide 12.
At the end of the video, we learn that Israel flourished under David’s rule because he was loved by God and did everything that God wanted him to do.
In the Bible, David is described as a man after God’s own heart. This means that David humbled himself before God, he loved and worshipped him, and he always gave God his ‘yes’.
In the Old Testament, another name for God is Yahweh, pronounced ‘yaa-way’. For David and Christians today, the ‘y’ from way stands for yes, but yes as in doing things God’s way (yaa-way) rather than their own way.
Prayer
Dear God,
Please help us to be wise and to make good decisions.
Please help us to have good attitudes in all that we do.
Please help us to say yes to good decisions and carry them through, even when it is difficult.
Amen.
Song/music
‘Our God is a great big God’, available at: https://youtu.be/eaXPXWBcE3I (3 minutes long)
