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Sep 2009 Issue
By Alison Palmer
Scripture:Nehemiah 6:3
Song:“Nephi’s Courage,” Children’s Songbook, pg. 120
Preparation:Gather paper and pencil for each family member.
Prayerfully review, “We Are Doing a Great work and Cannot Come Down”, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Ensign, May, 2009, 59-62.
Lesson:
Invite an older child or adult family member to come forward and hold their arms out from their sides. Challenge them to keep holding their arms up even when you try to force them down. Apply gentle pressure and talk about the resistance you meet.
Next, quietly divert the person’s attention from what they are doing by talking to them about something else, rubbing their back, or other small action that will cause them to lose their focus. Then, swiftly push down on one of their arms causing it to drop.
Practice this with other members of the family. Talk about the difference
between the two challenges. During the first moments of the challenge, the person with their arms out is expecting you to apply pressure to their arms. They are prepared and able to withstand the pressure you put on them. What happens when they become distracted? They may still exert some resistance, but their arm will drop much more readily.
Next, have the family prepare a short list of the things they think are most important in their lives. Items might include their family, the gospel, school studies, etc. Then, they should list everything they can remember about what they did during the day. How many of the items from their day’s activities were directly related to the things they said mattered most? Which things snuck into their day that took time or attention away from what they wanted to be doing?
Share the stories related by President Uchtdorf entitled, “The Story of the Light Bulb” and “Nehemiah.”
Discuss as a family why it is so important to keep your focus on the things of the gospel. How can Satan distract us and what defenses do we have against his tactics? As a family, what adjustments can you make to your daily lives that will help build your family’s defenses? What goals can you set as individuals?
Now that your family is aware of the trick you used to make someone drop their hands, pair up and see what kind of effort it takes to get those arms back down to each person’s side. Remind the family that we have more strength and power than Satan can ever have, unless we give him power over us. He obtains that power by distracting us and taking our thoughts away from Heavenly Father. The scriptures advise us that “No man can serve two masters.” (3 Nephi 13: 24)
Encourage family members to keep their arms firm and not allow themselves to be distracted from those things that matter most.
Activity:
Younger Children- Play Red Rover
Older Children- Work together to complete a small home improvement project that keeps getting put off. This could be patching a hole in a wall, re-hanging a loose towel holder, repairing the border of a garden, or replacing a difficult to reach light bulb, etc. Talk about the difference it can have when you take time to make repairs and work together to make your home stronger both physically and spiritually.
Refreshments:
Work together to build and bake a Monkey Bread wall around Nehemiah’s Jerusalem.
Further discussion can be centered on talking about times when Satan has tried to tear apart a piece of your defenses and what you were able to do, or not do, about those moments.
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