Here is a simple way to teach your children how to protect this land by standing for their beliefs. Time for some FHE Fun!
Opening Song: #251 Behold! A Royal Army
Opening Prayer: By invitation.
Emergency Preparedness Tip: It’s a great habit to use FHE’s as a weekly reminder to increase your family’s emergency preparedness. Here is an important article to help you “Survive the Hazards of Winter Travel”…especially since Thanksgiving weekend is approaching in the US.
Devotional: Jumpstart FHE with “favorite scripture” sharing time. It brings a sweet spirit to FHE and it shows your children you value the scriptures. These few minutes during FHE each week can bring a powerful spirit to your home.
Activity: Explain to your kids:
“People who do wrong often want others to join them because they feel more comfortable knowing that others are doing wrong too. Those who are striving to live a righteous life may receive pressure from such individuals. This pressure is often strongest during childhood and teenage years, when there is a powerful need to be accepted by one's peers. The Lord will strengthen those who strive to maintain high standards regardless of what others may do or say” (quoted from LDS.org).
Give each person present the assignment either to be a #1 or a #2. Then match a #1 person with a #2 person (create a three-some if necessary).
- Assign the #1s to give their own definition of “peer pressure” to their #2 partner.
- Ask the #2s to give advice to their partner of how a person can stand strong in the face of today’s peer pressure.
Once both sets have had a chance to share, invite the group to come back together and discuss the thoughts the teams had explored.
Read the following quote from Elder Scott about peer pressure:
"The more obedient you are, the more you stand for true principles, the more the Lord can help you overcome temptation. Choose good friends and resist peer pressure together" ("Making the Right Choices," Ensign, Nov. 1994, 37).
Application: Read the following scripture from Ezekiel 22:29-30:
29 The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the a poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully.
30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not a destroy it: but I found none.
Explain to the children and family members that people in society sometimes make wrong choices. God needs those who will stand for the right. He is waiting to see who is on His side. Review the ideas the family brainstormed earlier to choose the right, even when it is difficult. Perhaps the family could set aside a day to fast for strength. Perhaps the family could begin journaling of ways to “let Christ’s light shine.”
Whatever your family decides, let them know how much you love them. Explain how you’re seeking to create a safe place within the home…and to help them be the sons and daughters of God who “stand in the gap”, thereby protecting their land (as mentioned in Ezekiel 22:29-30).
Closing Song: #162 I Will Be Valiant
Closing Prayer: By invitation.
