Life Lessons from Play-Doh

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

The second Tuesday of every month is Mentoring Moments night...our women's ministry time. We've been doing different things with this; part of the mix is 'Table Time'...sometimes it's the whole meeting, sometimes it's just for part of the evening. We have about 20 women --including yours truly-- who are 'table leaders', and who plan an activity, event, short study, etc., for 8 ladies. To date, the only stipulation to the tables was age group (I have "Women in their 40's"). What we do is completely up to us. Last night was Mentoring Moments, and, as it happened, we didn't do Table Time this month, but I thought by way of introduction I'd share what I did at Table Time last month...that'll be the first monthly 'Table Time' post.



I bought about 2 dozen small cans of Play-Doh and a new Fun Factory and set them around the table. When the ladies got to my table (who those ladies were might be the subject of another post; for right now I'll just say that it wasn't who I'd planned for), I told them they were to use the Play-Doh to make a representation of some aspect of their lives, which they would then explain to us when everyone was finished.

It was funny... as soon as I gave that instruction, almost every one of them took the lump of Play-Doh, put it on the table and rather violently smashed it flat! We all laughed, and while they worked I read The Teacup Story and then shared some thoughts that had occurred to me as I began to think about what Play-Doh can teach us:

- Play-Doh is wonderful so long as it's malleable. Once it begins to harden, and the salty crust starts forming, it's not good anymore. We must remain pliable in the hands of the Master; we absolutely do not want to be crusted over!

- Play-Doh smells wonderful but tastes nasty! Ain't that just like temptation? It looks and smells wonderful, but once you partake of it...yuck!!

- You can mix the colors together but you can't ever separate them again. Some decisions are irreversible.

- Ya gotta clean out the Fun Factory before you put it away. The reason I had to buy a new one for that evening was that my youngest DD had recently pulled out the Play-Doh box at home and discovered that whoever had played with our 15-plus-year-old Fun Factory last did not clean it out; the old Play-Doh was hardened inside and it couldn't be used. Hanging on to the last great thing God did can keep the next great thing from getting through to you

- Play Doh requires no training and has no learning curve. You just jump in and start making stuff. We forget that that's really true in the Kingdom, too. God trains us as we press into it; we learn as we do.

- Even the poorest rendition of a butterfly is wonderful to a three-year-old who wants you to make her a butterfly from the Play-Doh she hands you. God doesn't ask us to be perfect at what we do; He just asks that we're willing to give it our best shot and He'll take it from there

- Sometimes you're smashed into a pancake; sometimes you're rolled into a 'snake' and sometimes you're pushed through the Fun Factory. But it all is God's way of conforming us to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29)

-Play-Doh retains the image of the hand that formed it. 'Nuff said!