Find a place where you can be quiet with your thoughts. Make yourself comfortable, lighting a candle to mark the time differently than you do for other activities. Close your eyes and breathe deeply for about five minutes, perhaps repeating a word or phrase to separate you from the activities of the day.

Let your mind sift through your religious beliefs. Which are most important to you? Ask yourself:

• How do your beliefs guide your expectations and choices in life?
• In what ways do you find your beliefs affirmed in Unitarian Universalism, perhaps anchored in some of our Sources? In what ways not?
• Might your beliefs ever change? What might change them?
• Where did you learn your beliefs? If you were not raised a UU, what other faith traditions influenced your beliefs?
• What do you consider your faith heritage? In what ways do you carry your faith heritage into your religious life today? How do you express or affirm your faith heritage in your life in the UU congregation?
• Is it easy or hard for you to see children as religious beings, with beliefs which are as true and powerful to them as yours are to you?

Like adults, children do have beliefs and faith which guide their lives. Today you will ask the children to think about their beliefs and connect them with their family's faith heritage including and beyond Unitarian Universalism. Remember, some children may be articulating their beliefs for the first time. Some may believe in Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy; others may be sure there is no such thing as God. Children may find it hard to see beliefs as something that can change or to see connections among their beliefs, their faith heritage, and the UU Sources. Allow them to be who they are and where they are, and see what you can learn.