With General Conference just behind us, what did your family take away from the experience? Try this simple Family Home Evening lesson and be surprised! Time for some FHE Fun.
Opening Song: #123 The Third Article of Faith
Opening Prayer: By invitation.
Emergency Preparedness Tip: With Christmas coming and budgets that are tight, why not sample Carolyn Nicolaysen’s preparedness article, “The Gift of Preparedness." Carolyn’s Christmas ideas here at Meridian Magazine make perfect sense and will bring greater satisfaction come emergency time than practically any other gift!
Devotional: Why not jumpstart this week’s FHE with a few minutes of “favorite scripture” sharing time? Not only will it bring a sweet spirit to FHE, but it will show your children you value the scriptures and what they have to offer.
Activity:
Items needed:
- Write each family member’s name on a popsicle stick or small slip of paper (for a drawing during FHE) and place the names in a bowl
- Print out a blank job application for each person, such as this simple one from MoneyInstructor.com (free registration will give you access to a terrific site full of life skill activities for your children, including practice sheets of all kinds)
- Pen for each person
- Index card for each person
Without explaining why, let each person draw a slip of paper with a name on it. Make sure that nobody gets their own name.
Then take just a moment to brainstorm with your family about a zany business that would be fun to work for.
- Once the family has decided on a business, then have each person look at the name they drew from the bowl.
- Pass out a “job application” to each person and a pen. Explain that each family member is going to fill out the application for their “friend” whose name they drew. Let them know the family is doing this to help expose positive traits that the others have (that they perhaps have not yet discovered).
- Once each application is filled out (maybe with help from Mom or Dad), read them out loud. This will be a fun opportunity for each one to learn of skills he or she might not have realized he or she has.
Application: Explain that when we want a job, we usually must apply for it by filling out a job application. Spiritual blessings are much the same way. If we are interested in a blessing, we must apply ourselves. But instead of filling out an application, we apply ourselves through something called “obedience.”
Read the following two scriptures:
Doctrine & Covenants 103:5-6:
“But verily I say unto you, that I have decreed a decree which my people shall realize, inasmuch as they hearken from this very hour unto the counsel which I, the Lord their God, shall give unto them.
“But behold they shall, for I have decreed it, begin to prevail against mine enemies from this very hour” (D&C 103:5-6).
Doctrine & Covenants 130:20-21:
“There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—
“And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated” (D&C 130:20-21).
Invite the family to review in their minds something that caught their attention during this most recent General Conference. Was there a promise given they would like? Was there an admonition that stuck out in their minds?
To close, pass out index cards. Ask each person to write down a blessing, or something he or she remembers from General Conference, that they could apply themselves to. Invite them to carry this card with them for the next six months, until the next General Conference. By so doing, and by so seeking to live the law they’ve selected, the Lord will bless them in magnificent ways.
Closing Song: #195 How Great the Wisdom and the Love
Closing Prayer: By invitation.
Refreshments: For this week’s refreshments, why not mix together a bowl of peanut M&Ms, regular M&Ms, caramel M&Ms, etc. Let each person take a handful as a treat. As they try the different M&Ms (that they may not have tried before), they may discover something new. It’s when you apply for new things that you discover great treats and joy in life—more so than if you hang back and refuse to participate. Enjoy the yummy snacks!
