Thought: The invitation to repent is rarely a voice of chastisement but rather a loving appeal to turn around and to “re-turn” toward God. It is the beckoning of a loving Father and His Only Begotten Son to be more than we are, to reach up to a higher way of life, to change, and to feel the happiness of keeping the commandments. Being disciples of Christ, we rejoice in the blessing of repenting and the joy of being forgiven. They become part of us, shaping the way we think and feel. (“Repent … That I May Heal You”
Neil L. Andersen)
Object Lesson: Consider using the following example from Repentance: Making the Inside Clean
By Michael Weir Allred. Either describe this scenario to your family or have a bucket with water in it, a brick, and additional water to refill the bucket.
Picture in your mind a bucket of water. That bucket represents you and me, and the water represents the Spirit, which can reside within us. The water can also represent our pure, worthy state.
Now imagine that you have a brick and have dropped it into the bucket. That brick is like sin—it’s hard and rough and impure. As soon as it enters the bucket, it causes some of the water to slosh out. When we sin, we displace some of the good things in our life, like our peace of mind and some of our capacity to feel the Spirit.
Repenting is like taking that brick out of the bucket of water and making the water pure and clean again. But the repentance isn’t complete by just removing the brick, because the bucket is still not full. We must add more water to fill the bucket again.
When we repent, it is not enough just to forsake sin; we must replace the empty space left by sin by living righteously. We need to refill our spiritual bucket by doing those things that invite the Spirit back into our lives. We need to recommit to living an obedient life, to forgiving others, to restoring damages, and to enduring faithfully to the end.
Video: Rescued by Christ
As you watch this video together ask your family to consider how this man's life could have turned out differently had he not chosen to make Christ his best friend. Following the video discuss ways that we can reach out to others who are going through the repentance process or who have repented of past mistakes. Remind your family that the worth of souls is great and that there is joy to be found in each person who repents.
Lesson Activity:
For the younger members of your family consider using one of the following activities from the Primary 3 Lesson Manual:
1. Prepare the following sheet for each child. Have the children write the four steps used in repentance. For younger children, draw circles for the two faces and have the children draw the faces in the circles themselves. Suggest that the children place this paper in their homes where they can easily see it to remind them how to repent and change their sad feelings to happy feelings.
(The four steps are: Feel sorry, Ask forgiveness, Right the wrong, Don’t repeat the wrong)
For the older members of your family consider using the following activity from the Come, Follow Me lesson for YW. Assign each family member to read one of the five aspects of repentance that Elder D. Todd Christofferson identifies in his talk “The Divine Gift of Repentance.” What do they learn from this talk about how we can know if we have truly repented? What else do they learn about repentance from Elder Christofferson’s message?
This week's challenge: Encourage your family to continue last week's challenge to be worthy to partake of the sacrament by fully repenting. Work together as a family to utilize the 4 steps of repentance in our family relationships each day.
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