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.

There is an interesting history of Aaron and Moses representing mercy and truth respectively via the atoning sacrifices and the provision of the law. Additionally, during the Zugot (pairs) time period of Judaism (c. 170 BCE – 30 CE), after the loss of confidence in the High Priest, the Sanhedrin was ruled  by two appointed rulers, the Nasi (President) representing mercy, and the Ab Bet Din (Vice President) representing truth. 

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Do your little ones enjoy learning to plait? Comment below!

Genesis 17 - Abram becomes Abraham Quiet Book Page

 In Genesis 17, God establishes a covenant with Abram and changes his name to Abraham, and Sarai becomes Sarah. 

Memory Verse: “No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.” Genesis 17:5 NKJV.

Materials needed to create the Abram becomes Abraham quiet book page:

• A4 felt background sheet - I used mint
• my free Genesis 17 - Abram becomes Abraham Bible Quiet Book Template Pattern
• gray hard felt
• white felt and coloured felt in two (or three) colours, or alphabet felt in those colours, or
• a method of cutting letters - see my Letter Cutting Hacks post
• 5mm ribbon in matching colours to your white and coloured felt
• sewing threads to best match the page
• diaper hook and loop tape material (like velcro but doesn't wreck felt so much and is wider and can be cut to the size needed) - I bought this (not an afiliate link)
• clear plastic - you can use tablecloth plastic or sheet set packaging
• scotch tape and paper
• hot glue and glue gun
• scissors!

Firstly, cut out as many alphabet blocks as you need for the names you are making from the gray hard felt. I used: YHWH (4 blocks in white), ABRAAM (6 blocks in blue), SARAI (5 blocks in pink), and TALIA (5 blocks in green). You can add your own child's name if it has an "ah" or "ha" sound in it.

Tahlia's toy came in handy to trace around
to make the perfect block shape for me

Cut out you letters as required for the blocks above - see my Letter Cutting Hacks post (I used the Sizzix method). Sew them onto the gray alphabet blocks in the center of each block. Work out the length of each ribbon required to trim each block (13cm from memory). Cut the number of lengths needed and melt the ends to prevent fraying. Sew a border around each block using the corresponding colour 5mm ribbon, tucking the end of the ribbon under itself to finish it nicely at the ends.

Cut out the pocket from your clear plastic and trim with ribbon in a simmilar manner as above. Place scotch tape onto your sewing machine foot so the plastic will move through your machine easily. I also place paper underneath part of my sewing machine - see my set-up on my Psalm 46 - Be Still and Know that I Am God Tea Set Quiet Book Page post. Sew the plastic onto your page on three sides leaving the top open to form a pocket. Place it at the bottom leaving room to sew the pages together at the end and enough room at the top for the writing strip.

Cut the writing strip from loop tape material and sew it onto your page at the top.

Cut as many hook tape backings as you need and hot glue to the back of each alphabet block.

Finished! Store blocks back to back in the pocket to minimise dammage that can be done with the hook side of the hook and loop tape material.

Difficulty Level = Difficult

It would be easy except for sewing the ribbons around the corners is a little tricky, but you will get better with practice! Sewing the plastic is very tricky if you don't follow the suggestions of using scotch tape and paper above.

Key Learning Areas and Skills

• Genesis 17 - God gave Abram and Sarai new names to show his covenant with them
• Spelling - learn to spell the names Abram, Abraham, Sarai, Sarah, and maybe some others
• 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

Genesis 17

Devotional

I heard something about this Bible chapter once and it has stuck with me. I don't remember where I heard it so unfortunately I can't give credit where it is due. It may have been a sermon - I'm not sure. But their words definitely helped inspire this quiet book page.

Basically, they were saying that when God changed Abram's name to Abraham, and Sarai's name to Sarah, He was breathing into their names (and lives). God added the "H" sound from His name YHWH (often translated as Yahweh) to their names. The "ah" sound is the sound made when breathing, so it was as if God was speaking a miracle into their lives. And when God speaks, things happen!

God created the whole universe by speaking. He said "let there be light" and there was light. He made a man out of dust, and when He breathed into him, he became a soul. When God breathed into Abram and Sarai's lives, they had a baby in their old age, even though they both laughed at the idea.

Who But You (Abraham & Sarah)

I had heard this before Tahlia came along, and it definitely influenced how I spelled her name. It HAD to be spelled with an "ah" in it. Many Hebrew names contain an "ah" sound, and I suppose it is only natural since God interfered with the name of the first Hebrew, Abraham.

As I have discussed in more detail in my post Tahlia's Quiet Book - Front Cover and First Page, Tahlia means "dew from Heaven". If I had known that the root word for "dew" in Hebrew was "Tal" beforehand, I might have spelled her name Taliah instead. I have explained all this reasoning to her and occasionally she now likes to spell her name Tahliah! I guess the more "ah" sounds the better hahaha (pun intended)!

I hope this page will become a special one to your child as well, especially if their name is spelled with an "ah" or "ha" too. May God breathe into their life, and yours.

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Can you include your child's name on this page?