Week 7: Why are we here?

Song: Choose the Right (Hymn 239)

Thought:
Why are we here? Earth life is part of God's plan for our eternal happiness. That plan includes gaining a physical body and learning to choose between good and evil. Our living prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, has said: "How grateful we should be that a wise Creator fashioned an earth and placed us here, with a veil of forgetfulness of our previous existence so that we might experience a time of testing, an opportunity to prove ourselves in order to qualify for all that God has prepared for us to receive" ("The Race of Life," Ensign, May 2012, 91). (Taken from Feb 2013 New Era)

Object Lesson: We are lifted up
Fill a clear flat vase with water. Tell your family that this represents the world that we live in. Then pour a good bit of oil on top so that you have a nice layer on top of the water. Liken the oil to the gospel and righteous living. Then take a little bottle of food coloring and drop in a drop for each member of your family. The food coloring should stay on top of the oil in little round drops. Explain that the gospel of Jesus Christ buoys us up and keeps us safe from worldly things. After time a couple of the food coloring drops may fall through the oil...if this happens explain that the gospel of Jesus Christ never fails us. Sometimes we stop doing the right good things and we begin to "join" the world--perhaps we have stopped praying or studying scriptures. Discuss with your family that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will help us through whatever trials or adversity may come our way. This life is full of tests, but it is meant to be a time of learning and especially a time of experiencing joy.

Video: God Will Lift Us Up
Following this video discuss with your family what we can do when we are faced with adversity in this life. Point out that we always have our agency to choose--even in times of trial. God loves us and wants us to be happy and successful in this life. He will lift us up just like the drops of food coloring in the oil are safe from the water below.

Activity:
For the younger members of your family consider playing a game of "Chutes and Ladders," but changing it to "Adversities and Blessings." As they take turns find ways to integrate the idea that sometimes life knocks us down and we have set backs, but that if we persevere and keep going then there are also times that God and our Savior will lift us up and help us to get closer to our goal. Do not stop playing when the first person reaches the end. Consider playing until everyone has made it to the goal and then discuss how we will all face different growing experiences in this life, but despite the hard times we can all make it back to live with Heavenly Father again. Those who reach the goal first should be encouraged to cheer on the remaining players and support them as they strive to reach the end. (If this game is not available or time does not permit it consider having them color this page and then discuss the importance of having a testimony and trying our hardest to choose the right in all things.)

For the older members of your family have them read the four paragraphs of Elder Neil L. Andersen's talk "Trial of Your Faith," beginning with "These fiery trials are designed to make you stronger. Invite them to ponder the question "why do we have adversity?" as they read these paragraphs. Reiterate the ideas discussed earlier about what we should do when faced with adversity (lesson activity from here). Conclude with a discussion about what our purpose is in this earth. "Adam fell that men might be and men are that they might have joy!" (2 Ne. 2:25) Encourage your family to focus on the blessings that come from choosing the right. Help them to remember that it is necessary for us to experience both the good and the bad. Consider having a small dish with some salt on it and another dish with some sugar on it. Tell your family members that one dish has salt and one has sugar. Ask them to identify which dish contains the sugar just from looking at them. When they cannot do this have them each taste the salt and the sugar so that they can tell which is which. Life may seem to be filled with many "salty" experiences, but there are plenty more "sweet" things in life that we have to enjoy if we choose to.

This week's challenge: Ask family members if they have had any opportunities to share the Plan of Salvation this week. Continue to pray for an opportunity to share this great Plan of Happiness with someone, especially that you may find someone to help understand why we are here.

God Will Lift Us Up

This life is full of trials, but those trials don't have to keep us from being able to fulfill our purpose in this life. "Men are that they might have joy." (2 Ne. 2:25) I firmly believe that we will never be given a trial in this life that we are not capable of overcoming with God's help.

Week 6: Where Did We Come From?

Song: I Lived in Heaven (CS. 4) (Picture helps can be found here)

Thought:

All human beings--male and female--are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.

In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshiped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize their divine destiny as heirs of eternal life. The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally. (The Family: A Proclamation to the World)

Object Lesson:

Have a bowl filled with various things to eat. There should be a variety of both treats and non-treats. Then have each family member take a turn being blindfolded and then choose something out of the bowl. The first thing they touch is what they get. After each person has had a turn ask them if they are happy with what they chose. Discuss that our choice was to take something from the bowl, but we had no control over the consequence. Some may have chosen something that they enjoy while others may have chosen something that they don't like. Point out that while we may get what we want without looking, the chances of satisfaction are much greater when we can see the choices and know what we are choosing. (Idea adapted from here.) 

Discuss with your family that when we lived in Heaven before we came to earth that our Heavenly Father held a series of counsels with us where he taught us about the need for mortality and eternal progression. Jesus Christ volunteered to be our Savior and provide a way for us to return to live with God again through the atonement. Lucifer wanted to take away our agency and make it so that it would not be possible for any of us to sin and therefore we all would return to live with God again. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ understood that we needed to have the ability to choose using our agency in order to be tested while on the earth. What followed is known as the war in Heaven where we each had to make a choice of whom to follow. By coming to earth and receiving a body we know that we all chose to follow Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father.
Elder Bednar has taught: In the grand division of all of God's creations, there are things to act and things to be acted upon. As sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, we have been blessed with the gift of agency--the capacity and power of independent action. Endowed with agency, we are agents, and we primarily are to act and not only to be acted upon--especially as we seek to obtain and apply spiritual knowledge.
Learning by faith and from experience are two of the central features of the Father's plan of happiness. The Savior preserved moral agency through the Atonement and made it possible for us to act and to learn by faith. Lucifer's rebellion against the plan sought to destroy the agency of man, and his intent was that we as learners would only be acted upon. (Seek Learning by Faith, 2007)

Video: The Sting of the Scorpion

Lesson Activity: 

Have the younger members of your family color this page and then help them to fold it into a book. (Found here and available in both word and pdf formats.) Then read this book together and take the time to discuss the principle of agency with your child to assess their understanding of this vital gospel concept.

Ask the older members of your family to read Moses 4:1-2 and look for things they learn about the Savior and Satan in the Council in Heaven. What do we learn about the results of Satan's actions from verses 3-4? How does this conflict continue on earth today? What is the Savior's role in this conflict? What is our role? Invite your family to express their feelings about the Savior and His willingness to follow His Father's plan. List some of the challenges people face during mortal life. Read about the premortal life in True to the Faith (p.115-116), looking for truths that can help people face these challenges. (Taken from here.)

This weeks challenge: Continue to pray as a family that you will be able to share your knowledge of The plan of happiness (in particular: Where did we come from?) with a friend or relative. Prepare yourselves to be able to witness to others of God's love for them and what His plan is for all of us.

The Sting of the Scorpion

Such a powerful reminder that we have the ability to choose and what the consequences of our choices can be. I am so grateful for the gift of agency, but more importantly for a Savior who loves me enough to atone for my sins that I may repent and be clean again.