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Go on a Gratitude "Safari"
By
C.S. Bezas
With the new iPod generation, children raised on "tech toys" sometimes can forget the most important of personality characteristics — gratitude, which leads to sensitivity of things of the Spirit.
So many youth today have so much in the way of tech toys. These tech toys become cultural icons. In other words, in spite of the items' expensive nature, kids want them without any thought to the cost or other affects.
This perhaps is not so much an error to be laid at the feet of our youth, but instead is simply felt as part of the social world many kids live in. But add iPods to cell phones, personal TVs, PlayStations, laptops, and other electronic devices, and soon children may become complacent in the abundance of their lives. Complacency with blessings can become stunting to spiritual growth.
Here is a creative FHE lesson to share a simple principle based on the "Gratitude" section in the "For the Strength of Youth" pamphlet. It is a useful aid to help parents teach and raise grateful and more spiritually responsive children. Time for some memorable FHE Fun!
FHE Fun!
Opening Song: #20 A Song of Thanks (Children's Songbook)
Opening Prayer: By invitation.
Devotional: Daily personal and family scripture study is essential for successful family life. Why not offer an opportunity at the beginning of each FHE to share awesome scriptures found during the week. It will bring the spirit to Family Home Evening and this sharing time can provide incentives for each individual's personal study.
Lesson
(Personal Note to Parents: Gratitude and spiritual sensitivity are often born out of adversity. It seems to be the difficult periods of life that contain the power to foster understanding — understanding of life's purposes and the importance of what we have. It's often when the things we value are gone — depending on how the situation is handled — that we begin better to see all that life offers, or at least see more clearly than before. Thus, this activity is meant to be light-hearted, but potent.)
Activity:
Items Needed:
- Pass out the "Bear Hunt" poem. Invite everyone to join in the poem to see who can act out the rhyme in the most theatrical way possible. Have the family stand while reciting the poem.
- Ask who seemed the best "safari actor." Give the winner a prize and a hearty congratulation.
Explain that life is like a bear hunt or even like a safari (explain the safari term to younger children). Without "real good friends" by your side (citing the poem), we can get lost or destroyed in the experience. But sometimes our friends can't even save us ... and it's not just the "bears" or symbolic wild animals that will destroy us. This is why caution — and careful listening — during safaris is essential.
- Brainstorm as a family what a person would take on a safari to stay safe.
- Invite the family to run and gather up all portable electronics. This would include all electronic games, iPods, and so on. Place them in a basket and set the basket aside.
Explain that safari adventurers must be alert to their surroundings or they can get mauled or even killed by wild animals. Life is not much different. Scriptures state that Satan is like a lion, seeking whomever he can to maul, to destroy.
Read Psalms 10:9 about the adversary's tactics — he is very unsafe!
"He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net" (Psalms 10:9)
Share with your family that the poor mentioned in this scripture are not the physical poor, but the spiritual "poor" — those who care not for the things of God, but rather for the things of this world. The Spirit will always warn of danger. If we are to detect Satan, we need to hear the alerts given by the voice of the Holy Ghost.
The Lord promises as we listen to that still small voice, we will hear revelation that will protect us — and others. But if we do not seek actual quiet, if we do not cease with incessant noise, if we do not seek times for quiet pondering/listening, we cannot hear the still small voice. How alarming this then becomes.
Read 1 Nephi 17:45:
"He hath spoken unto you in a still small voice, but ye were past feeling, that ye could not feel his words."
Ask the family why a person is not able to feel the words of the Spirit. After listening to their ideas, finish the lesson by sharing the following quote from Elder Dallin H. Oaks:
Gospel truths and testimony are received from the Holy Ghost through prayerful seeking , through faith, through scripture study, through righteous living, through listening to inspired communications and counsel, through serious conversations with persons of faith, and through reverent personal study and quiet contemplation. It is by these means that our souls are nourished and we realize the promise given in 3 Nephi that we will “be filled with the Holy Ghost” (3 Nephi 12:6). ("Nourishing the Spirit," Liahona, Aug 2001, p. 11, emphasis added)."
Explain that to be filled with the still small voice of the Spirit, one must seek time, space, and quiet for it. Since family members are already on a spiritual "safari" by virtue of being born, staying spiritually safe becomes urgent! For the next week, a new adventure will unfold (make sure to post the safari pictures you printed out above throughout the week as additional safari fun). Just as safari adventurers must listen to their surroundings to stay safe, the family will go for a week seeking the Spirit in all things. To do this, there must be quiet in order to feel the still, small voice of the Spirit.
Place the electronic devices in the basket in front of you. Explain that the family will pass through a one-week fast from electronic toys — including the parents. Even the TV is off-limits! The goal for the family is to see how many different spiritual activities they can seek in this new space of quiet. For it is in still moments that each person is able to feel the Spirit speak to him, personally!
Each night during the coming week, the family at evening prayer can return and report of their activities of "prayerful seeking, listening, and reverent quiet contemplation" (see quote above). Ask them to watch for moments that are unique, touching, perhaps even hard during the next seven days. Invite them to share their feelings each evening what it was like to walk through the day listening, really listening, for the still small voice. Ask them what their prayers were like. What did they experience and how did it change as the week went by?
Remind them as they become more practiced in feeling the Spirit in their lives, the promptings of the Holy Ghost become not just joyful, but much clearer. And as a result, life becomes much more satisfying. As the family increases in spiritual sensitivity, each person instinctively increases in his or her relationship with God. It is a natural byproduct then to become more grateful for everything. This process increases the Spirit, which increases gratitude, which increases spiritual sensitivity, which increases the Spirit, which ... well, the cycle is clear.
During the "safari" in the coming week, each night choose one of the following paragraphs from the For the Strength of Youth pamphlet to read as a small devotional, inviting discussion on it and the spiritual experiences felt during the day.
“He who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious” (D&C 78:19)
The Lord wants you to have a spirit of gratitude in all you do and say. Live with a spirit of thanksgiving and you will have greater happiness and satisfaction in life. Even in your most difficult times, you can find much to be grateful for. Doing so will strengthen and bless you.
In your prayers, before you ask for blessings, pour out your heart to God in thanks for the blessings you have already received. Thank Him for your family, for friends and loved ones, for leaders and teachers, for the gospel, and for His Son, Jesus Christ.
You can also express gratitude to the Lord by the way you live. When you keep His commandments and serve others, you show that you love Him and are grateful to Him. Express appreciation to everyone who helps you in any way ( For the Strength of Youth , "Gratitude," p. 6)."
Summary
Satan seeks desperately to cloud our thinking so we can't hear the warning voice of the Spirit. The Spirit will urgently warn us of danger, but if the "noise" in our lives is too great for the Spirit's small voice to be heard, the consequences can be frightening.
Invite the family to make the coming week fun and promise them the Lord will bless them for doing so. Encourage journaling and scripture study during the "safari" and the Spirit will intensify even more throughout the experience. (The kids may have such positive experiences the family may vote to extend the gratitude "safari!")
Closing Song: #187 God Loved Us, So He Sent His Son
Closing Prayer: By invitation.
Refreshments: This coconut bread recipe is a traditional African favorite treat that is great for this safari-themed FHE. Very similar to shortbread, its coconut filling is delicious!
Additional Resources: Elder Boyd K. Packer, "Spiritual Crocodiles," New Era, Jan 1981, p. 58.
Struggling with your teens? C.S. Bezas' book is an essential help for parents and youth leaders. Powerful Tips for Powerful Teachers teaches you how to create powerful change. Visit your local LDS bookstore or get your copy online here.
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