The Empty Pot

January 25, 2021 | Children's Religious Education, Discernment, Faith at Home, Home and Family

 

The Empty Pot Cover

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Honesty and integrity can often require real courage of us! In this classic Chinese children’s story, we learn once again that “Honesty is the best policy.” Ping was a young schoolboy who loved to grow flowers. He embraced the Emperor’s challenge to grow the best flower. The Emperor was old and devised this competition as the best way to choose his successor. He passed out seeds and told the children to return in one year with their flowers. Ping had always had success growing beautiful flowers but this time, no plant grew at all! He began to panic but his parents assured him that his best would be good enough and to take his best effort to the Emperor. Other children produced colorful, dramatic flowers and Ping had only an empty pot to show for his efforts! But, all is well in the end! The Emperor had boiled all of the seeds, so no flower or plant should have grown at all. The best candidate for the next emperor would be the one with the courage to withstand the truth!

 

Author: Demi

Illustrator: 

Publisher: Henry Holt and Company

Age Group: 4 to 5 years, 6 to 8 years

Preparation Time: 

Related File:  Click to view/download file

Related Link (or File):  Click to go to link

Topics: Home, Home Religious Education, Integrity, Quaker Faith & Practice, Testimonies

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The Quaker Religious Education Collaborative (QREC) is an international, cross-branch, grassroots network of Friends sharing a stewardship for lifelong Quaker faith formation through religious education. We formed in April 2014 and now serve more than 300 Friends in our network. We actively engage and support each other across languages and continents. We gather for regional and annual conferences and offer monthly Conversation Circles via an online conferencing platform. 

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