First, a little background. Most, if not all, of you know that I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In our church, we are asked to serve in different capacities within our church without pay, we call these “jobs” callings. I have learned through the years that these callings are not last-ditch efforts to give somebody something to do, nor given to someone just to have a vacancy filled; I truly believe in revelation and that the Lord guides people on earth, and I know through personal experience that the Lord prepares those He calls. That being said, my calling for the last several years has been to work in the Primary with the children (ages 18 months – 12). I regularly teach in front of large groups of children (sometimes 50 of them) and while I try to have fun with them and teach with a variety of methods, I always bear my testimony to them. I want them to know that I know that God lives and that He loves them, and I hope and pray that their testimonies are strengthened through mine.
Anyways, we started a new devotional technique at our house – with the new school year and all. We’ve tried a variety of things through the years, and hopefully that’s okay. (A favourite for all was with a book my sister gave me that included an item that corresponded to a scripture story or thought. We had a box at dinner time that magically held a new item each night – the kids loved it, and we had their attention for a few moments!) Our church has come out with a new manual for teaching the nursery children, and I picked one up for pnly $5.50 when we were in St. Louis. It is fabulous, and I am so excited for this to be used at church come January. It is called “Behold Your Little Ones” and is full of not only lessons, stories, teaching techniques and more, but full-page beautiful color pictures and handouts or activity sheets for each lesson. So each morning before breakfast the kids gather and we have a short (5-10 minute) devotional straight out of this little manual. Sure, the lessons are a little “young” for my kids, but they are sweet and have sparked sincere interest and brought more questions from our little ones – which results in more religious conversation. The best part, though, is that it requires me to bear my testimony with my children every day – something I have never done before. Looking into my own children’s eyes and telling them that we share love with others as Jesus did, and that Heavenly Father wants them to be happy – has brought me peace and happiness too. There is a special spirit in our home in the mornings now, and the rush is less so and peace more apparent (I only wish it stayed that way ALL day).
Yesterday as we were finishing the lesson and I was briefly sharing my testimony, Mr. T looked all embarrassed and asked me, “Why do you do that thing from church at home now?” I was confused and asked him what thing he was talking about. He replied, “That testimony thing!” It was a funny moment. He admitted he liked that I did, but he sometimes felt funny inside and wasn’t sure what that meant. I think he may be sprouting a little testimony seed right now! It was sweet.
This book only has 30 lessons… what other ideas do you have or do with your families for a daily devotional?
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9 comments:
You are such an awesome mom! I have mostly just used the Gospel Art Kit, children's scriptures, and primary songs. I hadn't thought of expanding on that--you're inspiring me! One neat thing I saw recently was when a grandmother put together a digital scrapbook with the Proclamation on the Family using family photos. Each phrase had a picture that corresponded with the doctrine taught. I thought it was a really cool way to personalize gospel principles, and you could make one for primary songs, etc. Gracie loved the songboard I made for "Families Can Be Together Forever" using our pictures.
Thanks for the recommendation. I will have to pick up one of those new nursery manuals. I think those devotionals sound like a great idea. Since our first two kids got a little older, we have just been reading straight out of the Book of Mormon every day for the past year or so. Before that, we used the gospel art kit or then the illustrated scripture stories (with one or two real verses of scripture thrown in at the end). I always love the times when reading a particular verse of scripture sparks a discussion about a topic. I feel like asking questions and trying to keep everyone engaged makes a huge difference (even if that means you don't actually get through all the verses or things you had planned). Much of the time (to be completely honest), one of the toddlers is crying, I'm falling asleep, or Connor's giggling during our scripture reading...wish it was picture-perfect every day.
As I read, I felt my heart soar!
No doubt, you are helping your children to put on their 'Whole Armor of God' before going out into the world. I liked Laura's idea to study the Family Proclamation and personalize it--understanding that at a young age is so needed in today's society.
I love the website www.sugardoodle.net
Check it out. I'm a friend to your brother's wife. Thanks for the stuff about what to do and not on blogging. Always am looking for good advice on things I'm not very good at.Good luck
What a beautiful idea. Your children are so lucky.
Also, totally agree with you about the private blogs!
What a sweet story! Thank you for sharing it. I have been doing luch time devotionals with my kids. Nothing big, we just read a few verses, (it is taking forever to get out of first Nephi)and a lot of explaining. I ave been thinking that I was going to have to change it to breakfast though since school will be starting next week. I am going to get that nursery book!
For other lessons, I have been teaching my kids watered down versions of my Sunday School lessons ( I teach the 8,9, 10 and 11 year olds)They seem to like them.
You are always so good! I'll have to look into getting that book. That's a great idea! We do scriptures in the morning. Then at night we sing and say the article of faith for that month. We started doing this when Adam turned 3 and went into sunbeams. By the end of the year, he knew all 13. We have continued that tradition and Lincoln is picking it right up. I love the articles of faith because they are so simple and gives them something to say when others ask them questions about the church. By the way, thanks again sooooo much for having us over when we visited! It was so good to see all of you!
I bought the book! Now remember--imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...
As a new convert, and as a son of a wonderful mother myself, I have a deep admiration and respect for the Primary organization in the Church and all those who serve to teach the Gospel to God's most precious gifts, His children. To think that you would have to teach a group of almost 50 kids is amazing to me! Kudos to you :D
And I also saw "Behold Your Little Ones" on the Church site. It looks like a great tool! Gotta love all the resources we have nowadays...
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