Image via Persimmon and Pink Hi Everyone, I'm so sorry it's been a while since this was updated! I hope that last month's theme of self esteem and the talks and perspectives that were shared have been useful to you as we strive to find safety in personal righteousness this year. We started out with self esteem because we felt that if you can feel good about yourself and understand your worth, you can not only conquer anything in life, but you are able to actually be righteous (and therefore find safety there) because you know who you are.
I also hope you were able to take the opportunity to be creative or to assist someone else in a compassionate way and that your experiences added to your sense of worth. Thank you to everyone who donated things for the Enrichment auction and those who supported the event - it was a lot of fun and highlighted the amazing talents we have in this ward!
We're into a new month - February - traditionally a month of love!! So I thought what better way to celebrate this month than to focus on our FAMILIES, those who we should love the most (although sometimes they feature those who are hardest to love too!). It is significant to me that both the Old Testament, New Testament and Book of Mormon commence with stories and situations involving families. And, we should add, not perfect families either. Families that we can all relate to: parents leading their families through difficult and challenging times; husbands and wives who don't always agree with each other; children who are not always obedient; and siblings who do not always get along.
And yet in these stories we are also able to see the Proclamation on the Family played out for real in all it's glory:
"The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners."
How blessed we are to have the scriptures to show us how to implement these principles in such a real way.
So for the goal this month, we have the following challenge:
Take a look at "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" and identify a principle that you and your family could work on this month. It could be increasing faith through daily family prayer, commiting to regular Family Home Evenings, doing better at forgiving family members when they make mistakes or frustrate us or anything else that will bring you closer to your family and increase your sense of safety as you implement righteous principles in your home.
Please leave a comment of any ideas you have to successfully implement these principles so that we can learn from each other! And if you have anything you would like us to highlight this month, also leave a comment. I hope to showcase some ideas for Family Home Evenings with all ages, improving prayer and scripture study as families and other little helps. I'm hoping that the things we highlight can remind us that "what matters most is what lasts the longest and our families are for eternity" (M Russell Ballard - this talk also has some great ideas for improving family relations)
5 comments:
I've been trying to find some ideas for family home evenings with little ones. So far ours have been very short, with lots of singing and stories from the friend. We have also tried to reinforce what was taught the previous day in primary. There are lots of ideas on lds.org - the entire 'Family Home Evening Resource Book' is there, as is the 'Helps for Family Home Evening' on the 'Home and Family' site. Could anyone let me know any other good sites or great ideas that worked for them?
Cheers
I was just thinking the other day about what a very dear friend said to me. I can't change someone else I can only change me. So when my beautiful boy is cross or having a tantrum I work hard to try and do what my saviour would want me to. My role as a mother and wife are the most important things and I want my children and husband to know I love them.
Hi Sarah - not that we have tried this yet (with Adelaide being so young!) but I have enjoyed readng the Family Home Evening helps in the Ensign - they often have great ideas in contributed from families all over the church. You can find this in the "random sampler" section of the Ensign, both in print and online.
When I was little, my mother used to do "flannel board stories" for FHE. She had a board covered in flannel and then she cut out figures from scripture stories and mounted them on flannel. We coloured them and then as she told the story we would mount it on the board - that was always fun and also developed listening skills too!
In my Patriarchal blessing I have one sentence that has been extremely useful during my time as mother and grandmother, it says 'Be patient.' How the Lord knows me, as this does not come easily, but it has helped me on many occasions. This sentence is followed by another, 'Love your children.' This is the Lord's formula for me for a happy home.
Hi! I saw a while back on www.lds.org that the new lesson manual for Nursery 'Behold Your Little Ones' will be available to all members to buy. You will probably have already seen the section about it in the latest Ensign. It costs £3.65 and I can get you one this Saturday if they have any at the Temple Distribution centre. (Solihull are awaiting a shipment).
Like you, I have also been trying to go over the things taught in Nursery the day before. Having the manual will be a help to me so we will know which Gospel principles have been taught. Also, singing Primary songs to them, even if they don't join in for ages seems to finally be paying off! If I stop singing in the middle of a line, Ed will often finish it for me.
Also, on ldsliving@ldsliving.net you can sign up to receive an email with FHE ideas each week. It gives you suggested songs, activities, scriptures, stories and even recipes for refreshments if you are really stuck!
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