Years ago, a dear friend sent me a care package of the most unusual items in an interestingly unique care package. Inside, every item was properly tagged with a scripture card explaining the value of each article each. The survival kit served to remind me what is needed to make it through life with these 9 Essentials for Surviving Everyday.
1) TOOTHPICK – To remind you to pick out the good qualities in others. (Matthew 7:1)
“Judge not, that ye be not judged.”
2) RUBBER BAND – To remind you to be flexible. Things might not always go the way you want, but it will work out. (Romans 8:28)
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
3) BAND AID – To remind you to heal hurt feelings, yours or someone else’s. (Colossians 3:12-14)12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; 13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. 14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. 
4) PENCIL – To remind you to list your blessings everyday. (Ephesians 1:3)
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:”
5) ERASER – To remind you that everyone makes mistakes and it’s OKAY. (Genesis 50:15-21)
15 And when Joseph’s brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him. 16 And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying, 17 So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him. 18 And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants. 19 And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? 20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. 21 Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.
6) CHEWING GUM – To remind you to stick with it, and you can accomplish anything. (Philippians 4:13)
“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
7) MINT – To remind you that you
are worth a mint. (John 3:16-17)
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
8) CANDY KISS – To remind you that everyone needs a kiss or a hug everyday. (John 4:7)
“There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.”
9) TEA BAG – To remind you to relax daily and go over your list of blessings. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)
“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
How appropriate is this for a friend to share such a sentimental gift? This is a beautiful illustration of how one can view everyday objects as a device for survival with the appropriate scripture. 9 little essentials passed from one friend to another now being passed to you, my friend.
PS: I researched the net to find the author of this inspiring concept, but came up empty-handed. However, I did find some information, which might encourage and help your school kids with these, 8 downloadable survival scripture cards for back-to-school that I originally found at the Tip Junkie site’s that no longer works.
(I’m using the freebie version of this pdf plugin before purchasing the license to see how it works for now. You can right-click image and do “Save As” )
You may also like this post, I wrote: I Call You Friend.