The Gospel in Our Daily Lives
Because we are not all church members we have to adapt our family home evenings to encompass both religious topics and broader societal topics.
PURPOSE
Teach your family that the full blessings of the gospel come only through actively living the gospel.
Adaption for non-church families -
Teach your family that knowing right from wrong and good from bad is not enough, it has to be carried out in action.
PREPARATION
Center this family home evening on a special, favorite meal. Seat family members around the table, and begin your lesson. Do not have the prayer or let them begin to eat until the appropriate time in the lesson
Make a chart. Divide the chart into halves. On the top of the left half, write “Physical Needs”; on the right side write “Spiritual Needs.” Have a marker ready to write on the chart
Make wordstrips with different gospel principles written on them, and put one or more under each family member’s plate. Some examples are “kindness,” “honesty,” “prayer,” “reverence,” “obedience,” and “self-control.”
Make the following wordstrips: “irreverence,” “selfishness,” “unkindness,” “laziness,” “dishonesty,” “disobedience,” “anger,” and “lack of prayer.” Have a plate ready on which to collect them.
SUGGESTED LESSON
Physical Food and Spiritual Food
Begin your lesson by having family members sit down to a special dinner that you have prepared. Do not let them begin to eat. Instead, have them look at the food and discuss why they especially like each item and why the food is good for them.Discuss the importance of a balanced diet and how our bodies need many different things to stay healthy.
On the left side of the chart list some of the ingredients of a good, balanced diet.
Point out that the gospel contains the ingredients for a good, balanced diet for our spirits. On the right side of the chart add some of these spiritual ingredients.
We omitted some of spiritual ingredients, but we did talk about prayers and what they mean.
We had not added our spiritual needs yet - they were - being loved, kisses, being nice, self confidence, forgiving and saying sorry
Now tell them that since they have discussed their dinner and how they feel about it, they can all leave the table.
- •Do you think this is a good idea?
- •Are you still hungry?
- •Why didn’t the food do you any good?
Emphasize that we must eat the good food if our bodies are to benefit from it. Point out to your family that just as food feeds our bodies, the gospel feeds our spirits. It is spiritual food.
You can now feed yourselves, begin to eat while you finish your discussion.
We Need the Blessings of the Gospel
Have the family members take out the wordstrips from under their plates. Talk about why you need to live the principles written on them if you want to satisfy the spiritual needs you just listed. For example, for the wordstrip “kindness,” you might ask:
- •How does kindness help us?
- •What would happen to our lives without kindness?
- •How does being kind help us to stay spiritually healthy and happy?
After you discuss each wordstrip, explain that living all the principles of the gospel is like eating a balanced diet.
ADAPTING FOR YOUNGER CHILDREN
Begin by asking the following questions. Have the children raise their hands for the answer that shows what Heavenly Father wants them to do.
- When mother is busy fixing dinner you should—
a. Go play with your friends.
b. Help her. - When your little sister is crying you should—
a. Call her a crybaby.
b. Give her a hug and find a toy to share with her. - When your father asks you to do something you should—
a. Do it quickly.
b. Pretend you didn’t hear him.
When your brother breaks one of your crayons you should—
a. Forgive him.
b. Punch him and go tell your mother.- When you have a problem that worries you, you should—
a. Cry about it.
b. Discuss it with your parents (and if appropriate pray to Heavenly Father about it.)
Make up other questions that fit the needs of your children.
FYI Oscar picked the right answer every time, even though he almost said A. for question 1 lol.
Questions to ask yourself
Do I forgive quickly?
Do I gladly help my neighbors?
Am I honest?
Do I stand up for the right even when my friends mock me?
Do I willingly accept Church callings?(if appropriate)
Do I give of my time to each family member?
Do I pray sincerely every day?(if appropriate)
Am I kind to strangers, friends, and family members?
Do I refrain from judging other people as being either better or worse than me?
Do I avoid even the appearance of evil/ bad behaviour?
We also had 2 stories which were suggested by the church, which we changed slightly to be a bit more general, however the message was the same. 'It is not enough to know right from wrong, it must be carried out through our words and actions.
The wrong actions
When my friend was at our Temple a few weeks ago, she bought a ring for Oscar which has the initials CTR, which stands for Choose The Right (INFO ON CTR).
So, to end the lesson I said a prayer and then we gave Oscar a colouring sheet with CTR on it, to give him a physical and visual reminder of the lesson.
Sweet And Sour Quorn Is Messy On The Chin ;)
If you are reading this and thinking your own kids would NEVER sit through it, you may be interested to know that I always think that, but so far so good, Oscar has been REALLY keen to participate.
Valerie
p.s. there are lots of resources for FHE on the Latter Day Saints web site.
Please leave me a comment in the comments section after each post, it's nice to know I am not talking to myself
Valerie
xxx
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