Psalm 85 - Righteousness and Peace Have Kissed Quiet Book Page

 In Psalm 85, God provides a way for His justice and His mercy to prevail together.

Memory Verse: Mercy and truth have met together;
Righteousness and peace have kissed.
Truth shall spring out of the earth,
And righteousness shall look down from heaven. Psalm 85:10-11 (NKJV).

Materials needed to create the Righteousness and Peace Have Kissed quiet book page:

• A4 felt background sheet - I used cream
• my free template
• felt scraps in royal blue and green
• magnetic handshake keychain from AliExpress (not an affiliate link)
• kissing lips button
• alphabet beads
• 7 black grommets and tool set - I used 3mm inside diameter (perhaps 5mm height)
• round hat elastic in black
• 4 small thin buttons
• sewing thread to best match the page

Cut out your hill piece from green felt and insert grommets where indicated. Thread your elastic through to the front and thread your "mercy" and "truth" beads on at either side (remember to thread "truth" in reverse order so it shows correctly - a little ironic, I know!). Detach the magnetic hand beads from the keychains and thread them onto either end of the elastic before threading the elastic back through the "mercy" and "truth" beads and then to the back of the felt. Thread the elastic through a thin button and tie together to prevent the elastic knot from making it's way to the front of the felt, making sure the correct length is achieved for the hands to clasp each other without too much slack or needing the elastic to stretch. Sew the green hill to green felt to cover the back button and cut it out.

Repeat this process with the two cross pieces, although you don't need to double the elastic back through the beads (just thread them straight back through the other grommet to the back). Then addon your buttonholes where indicated. 

Use the template pieces to position the green hill on your page and sew along the sides and bottom leaving the top open to form a pocket.

Use the template pieces to mark the position of where to place the kissing lips button. Add a grommet to the page background. Thread more elastic through from the back of he page and thread on your lips, then pass the elastic back through the grommet to the back of the page. 

Again, thread the elastic through a thin button and tie together to prevent the elastic knot from making it's way to the front of the felt, making sure the correct length is achieved to allow both cross pieces to be buttoned on comfortably.

Finished! Now you can play with your page.

Difficulty Level = Easy

Grommet installation can be scary - but the following YouTube tutorial by Irina Sorokina from My Craft Quiet Books should help.

Eyelets and grommets - My Craft Quiet Books

Key Learning Areas and Skills

• Psalm 85 - the cross was the only solution for God to both uphold justice and extend mercy
• Imaginative Play/Clasping - clasp and unclasp the hands as if they are "meeting together" or shaking hands greeting each other
• Buttoning - button the sections of tthe cross to the kissing lips button
• Spelling - learn to spell the words "mercy", "truth", "righteousness" and "peace"
  
• Pocket Play - young children love pulling things out and placing items and putting them back (not always lol) into pockets - the cross pieces can be stored in the hill pocket
• Fine Motor Skills - all quiet books encourage fine motor skill development
• Hand-eye Co-ordination - all quiet books encourage hand-eye co-ordination

Read the Chapter

Psalm 85

Devotional

There is a great deal to learn from this Psalm and Matthew Henry's commentary on it is very enlightening. I will summarise one point only. Ultimately Jesus is the mediator who brings Heaven and earth together again. He is the truth that sprang out of the Earth (rose from the grave). And God justifies us by looking down favourably from Heaven because of Jesus' restoration. The cross is where God's mercy meets Truth, and where Righteousness brings Peace to men.

The penalty of sin is death. If God wants goodness to exist and goodness to rule, the rules He established to make good conditions must be kept. If He forgave without justice then why bother having laws - kaos and death would dominate instead of love. In order to forgive and keep the good rules in place, He had to pay the penalty (death) for us.

Psalm 85 - A Love Song… With a Kiss!

Selah - Acoustic Psalms

Here is another interesting read on Mercy and Truth by Ismar Schorsch from the Jewish Theological Seminary.

Interestingly, in the days of the ancient Synagogue, there were two appointed rulers. 

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