The Four-Finger Flapper goes to Sunday School

Remember those fun cootie catchers that we made when we were kids?  Sometimes we called them 'four-finger flappers' and they served to amuse us by telling us our benign fortunes.  As in: your day will be filled with laughter or you're going to marry a prince or (puzzlingly) you have freckles.

My daughter came upon one of these in a kids magazine.  She was absolutely taken with this toy, offering to read our fortunes over and over again.  I found myself being increasingly unsettled about this simple plaything.  I heard myself explaining to her that the fortunes are pretend and you can't count on them and don't trust things that you read in magazines.

Then I closed my mouth and opened up the craft supplies and my sacred text.

The results: the four-finger flapper goes to Sunday School!

Inside, instead of wispy promises, are words of truth and well-being.

Words my daughters can count on, trust, and look for their fulfillment.

With promises like this, they can read my future all day long.


Update: here are the verses that I used.

You are fearfully and wonderfully made!

It says so in Psalm 139.

God has plans to prosper you and not to harm you. 

It says so in Jeremiah 29.

You have the mind of Christ. It says so in 1 Corinthians 2.

Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.

It says so in Psalm 37.

Your citizenship is in heaven! It says so in Philippians 3.

You are the work of God’s hands, like a potter shapes clay.  

It says so in Isaiah 64.

You are a child of God, shining like a star in the universe. 

It says so in Philippians 2.

May you grow into a woman of God, clothed with strength and dignity, just like it says in Proverbs 31.