I walked into one of our small groups at the end of December and saw all the girls flipping through calendars and writing each other’s birthdays on the calendars.  They wrote events that they were supposed to remember for the entire year.  I loved what this awesome  leader, Lori Beth, was doing with the girls as an end of the year activity.  This would be an awesome beginning of the year activity with a group of girls you’re mentoring.  Lori Beth shared with me that she had taken a passage to talk with the girls about how they spent their time.  I thought she had told me she used a passage in Hosea but I can’t recall it.  I would use the same activity with:

Psalm 90:12: Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

I loved how Lorie Beth  gave each of the girls a calendar to fill up with birthdays of the other girls and leaders.  In addition, you could add things to pray for, you could have the girls mark in certain things throughout the week.  You could obtain some stickers that meant a certain thing for each week and have them apply the stickers for the whole year, like a yellow star  represents when all the girls agree to pray for a certain thing in the group.

Then have them read Psalm 90:12 and talk with them about the importance of numbering our days.

• What does numbering our days help us to do?
• When we begin to cherish the days we have been given, how does that impact the purpose and intent of those days?
• How should our days look different when we follow Christ with our lives?

What beginning of the year activities have you seen work?