Object Lessons

I was talking to a friend about Easter, and she mentioned that it was strange that we spend a whole month decorating, talking about, and celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ--yet Easter comes and goes without all of the pomp and circumstance. If you think about it though, we would not celebrate the birth of Christ if it had not been for the Atonement and His death.

So this week our family decided to really focus on the mission and Atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ. 

During our Family Home Evening, we talked about Jesus, the last supper, the Garden of Gethesemene, the cross on Calvary, and the empty tomb. It was a lot to cover for short attention spans, and towards the end it got a little rushed. I had an object lesson that was supposed to demonstrate how the Atonement was like a carnation (Jesus Christ)  absorbing the food coloring (sins) in the water (our spirits). I didn't know if the kids understood any of it--and there was no instant gratification, of course. I also didn't know how long it would take for the flowers to absorb the dye.

The next morning the older kids had gone to school, and Grant was sitting at the table while I was cleaning up breakfast. He kept asking me a question, but I couldn't understand his words, "Mom, why won't Jesus take the colors?" What? I repeated it, trying to figure out if that is what he really said. It was. It took me a minute to figure out that he was asking why the flowers had not yet absorbed the food coloring. (Operatic singing in the background) He got something from our lesson! He understood that the white carnations represented Jesus, and I had promised him that the carnation would take the color, and he was asking why it hadn't happened yet! What a wonderful teaching moment to sit down with my four year old and talk about Jesus taking away our colors (sins). 

The goal was to have a little devotional each morning in place of our regular scripture study, and for each person in our family to take a moment and share stories and testimonies about Jesus. We missed it this morning, but maybe tonight?  

On Sunday morning we are going to get up early and go somewhere beautiful (Joe's job to find the location) to watch the sunrise and have a more in-depth Easter devotional. If you are interested and want ideas for your own family, I plan to base it on the FHE manual lesson titled "He is Risen" (<--- click on it). 

I know that Christ has indeed risen, and that He lives. I know that because of His sacrifice we can be forgiven of our sins, perfected, and someday reunited as families. He knows what we are going through, and He can help us to get through it all.

FHE

hopefully this picture adds some variety to my long post. :)

Family Home Evening is a suggestion my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, has given that is "a special time set aside each week that brings family members together and strengthens their love for each other, helps them draw closer to Heavenly Father, and encourages them to live righteously." (click here to learn more about it)

Monday is the day we traditionally set aside for our Family Home Evening (FHE from here on out). We try to include an opening song, opening prayer, lesson, game, closing song, closing prayer, and a treat (because food is very, very important).

Sometimes we do something different like write letters, go bowling, etc (last week we went on a hike and played CLUE). The kids LOVE family home evening and would do it every night. They love to give the lessons (which we've decided need to be approved and practiced with mom). The lessons. . . well, they are hit and miss success-wise. Short and simple is usually most effective. We try to base these on holidays, life-events (we've been doing a lot on the importance of baptism, as Logan is getting baptized next month), and principles that need some work. Logan and Madison will often give lessons based on things they learned in primary. One of my favorites is the time we invited the missionaries and had a talent show. Favorite songs: "I am a child of God," "Do as I'm Doing," and "As I Have Loved You." Favorite games: "Hide and Seek," "Simon Says," "UNO," "Old Maid," and many more. This is the easiest part of FHE. :)

Sometimes I feel frustrated when no one is listening. Like. . . two weeks ago Madi gave the lesson and walked around and around the room. I ended up basically doing her lesson for her (on the brother of Jared) and she got upset about it. Grant just wanted to play with toys. And Logan just kept jumping up and down trying to take over Madison's lesson.

I loved Elder Bednar's description of FHE in his talk "More Diligent and Concerned at Home." He says:

Sometimes Sister Bednar and I wondered if our efforts to do these spiritually essential things were worthwhile. Now and then verses of scripture were read amid outbursts such as “He’s touching me!” “Make him stop looking at me!” “Mom, he’s breathing my air!” Sincere prayers occasionally were interrupted with giggling and poking. And with active, rambunctious boys, family home evening lessons did not always produce high levels of edification. At times Sister Bednar and I were exasperated because the righteous habits we worked so hard to foster did not seem to yield immediately the spiritual results we wanted and expected.

Today if you could ask our adult sons what they remember about family prayer, scripture study, and family home evening, I believe I know how they would answer. . . . What they would say they remember is that as a family we were consistent.

Sister Bednar and I thought helping our sons understand the content of a particular lesson or a specific scripture was the ultimate outcome. But. . . the consistency of our intent and work was perhaps the greatest lesson.

I think my growing-up family was pretty consistent at FHE, but two FHE's in particular stand out. Don't judge.

The Family Shower

I don't really know WHY we had this FHE, but there must have been a reason. I don't know how old I was, but old enough to know that this was a little strange (12?). My parents told us to get on our swimming suits, and then all SEVEN of us squished into the bathtub and took a shower (we had swimming suits on). They told us how important it was to use soap and shampoo and why it was important to have clean bodies. Kind of weird. . . someone must have not been smelling too good or something. :)

Kicking Satan out the Door

I must have been a little older for this one, too. . .like 18? Close to that anyway. And sometimes I didn't think that sitting down and having FHE was really that cool. Anywho. . . we kids were all being bratty and arguing and finally my dad got up really mad and fast. I think we all kind of held our breath and watched to see what he would do. Well he got up and opened the front door and started kicking his leg out the door and yelling, "Satan--you get out of my house. You are not allowed here and I will not put up with you in this house." He went on saying that for a few minutes and then quietly closed the door and sat down. Needless to say, we were all very quiet and attentive for the rest of the evening. We still like to laugh about that day. But it worked.

What are your favorite family home evenings?

Have I Mentioned....

About a year ago I discovered The Friend on-line. For any of you who don't know, The Friend is a magazine published for children by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the church we belong to). Anyway, one of the links on this site leads you to some podcasts based on scripture stories for children, which you can download for free. We burned them onto c.d.'s and put them on our ipods. The kids get to listen to them anytime...in the car, while they play, even when they go to bed! Not only are they learning scripture stories, but they are learning songs and they also enjoy hearing discussion about the scriptures from other children. When we have our family scripture study during breakfast, the kids understand/know what we are reading about and we are able to have wonderful conversations--I think because they have memorized the podcasts! The kids ask to do FHE and will base their lessons and questions on topics they have heard on their burned c.d.'s.

The reason I bring this up (besides because I LOVE them!) is because tonight I've been grumpy and tired. Joe had to go to a stake meeting, and I was struggling to make the evening enjoyable while trying to get dinner made, cleaned up, homework done, kids showered and ready for bed. Bedtime is supposed to be a happy time, right? Hugs and books and desserts... not "Clean up. Hurry up and get in bed. Stop playing." As usual, Madison turned on her C.D. player right before I tucked her in. I hurriedly kissed her good-night and almost ran to the computer to relax (maybe that's my problem right there!). I heard her singing along to the song "I'm Trying to be Like Jesus," and my mood and the atmosphere just changed. What a sweet sound to hear your child singing songs that testify of Christ! I guess we should have turned the music on about an hour ago. :)

Anyway, I feel like our family has really been blessed by these podcasts, and I wanted to share them with you... just in case you hadn't heard.