Thinking through priorities is as important as it is difficult. This activity helps students think critically about their priorities by forcing a choice and offering a time for reflection.

• Pass out a sheet of paper and a pen/pencil to each student
• Instruct the students to fold the sheet of paper into 8 different sections.
• Think of the 8 things most important to you. Write one of those things in each section.
• Once everything is written down, tear the paper up into the 8 different pieces.
• Then tell the students – “You have to sacrifice 1 of the 8 items you wrote down, you get to choose – please place one slip of paper into the middle of the group (on the ground or the table of whatever is the middle of your meeting space). Ask everyone to quickly share what they sacrificed and what made that less important than the other things.
• Continue having them put an additional slip of paper in the middle one at a time asking them what they put in each time. Repeat this until each student is down to only 3 slips of paper remaining
• Ask each student to share what their final 3 items were.

Questions for the Activity:

• How difficult was it to sacrifice those 5 important items?
• Are there things in your life that you might be able to sacrifice which might bless others by your sacrifice? (if students only mention material items encourage them to think more abstractly like giving of their time, their God-given gifts, etc)