A person's life is like a bank vault. And the more protected that vault, the safer the person is spiritually and physically. Here is a straightforward Family Home Evening lesson to teach your children the significance of character and how inner strength protects them. Time for some FHE Fun!
Opening Song: #220 The Handcart Song
Opening Prayer: By invitation.
Devotional: Want to bring a sweet spirit to FHE and show your children you value the scriptures? Try starting each week's Family Home Evening with a "favorite verse" sharing time. These few minutes of short-verse-reading-and-testimony-sharing can bring a powerful spirit to your home and help settle the children for the FHE activity and lesson.
Activity:
Items Needed:
* Paper, approximately 8 ½ x 11"
* Cardboard (easily removed from the back of an inexpensive spiral notebook), approximately 8 ½ x 11"
* Wood or plastic (similar to a clipboard), approximately 8 ½ x 11", labeled "Character"
* Two heavy glasses or mugs
* 3 small items from around the house of light weight (such as a feather), medium weight (such as a pen), and heavy weight (such as 100 pennies in a baggie). Place the items in a bowl.
* Scriptures
Read out loud the following story, "The Parable of the Treasure Vault," from Elder James E. Talmage (1862-1933), found in the February 2010 New Era. (The younger your children, the more dramatic you can read the story!)
Ask the children what they learned from the story. Do not help them explain the story; simply listen to their understanding. Then explain you're going to show an important truth from the story, but you'll need some helpers to do it.
Place the two heavy cups approximately 8" apart on a solid surface. Carefully place the thin piece of paper to rest on top of the cups. Ask for a helper to select the lightest item from the bowl and place it in the middle of the paper. Did it cause the paper to collapse? Why or why not? Thank the child and have her sit down.
Read the following quote by Elder Richard G. Scott, asking the family to think what this quote has to do with the activity:
"Character is the manifestation of what you are becoming. Strong moral character results from consistent correct choices in the trials and testing of life. Your faith can guide you to those correct choices ("The Sustaining Power of Faith in Times of Uncertainty and Testing," Ensign, May 2003, 77)."
Ask: What kind of choices make us stronger?
Put the feather (or other light-weight item) aside, make sure the paper is resting on the glasses, and ask for another volunteer. Have the second volunteer find the medium-weight item from the bowl and place it in the middle of the paper. Did it cause the paper to collapse? Why or why not? Thank that helper and have him sit down.
Put the two small items back in the bowl. Remove the paper and replace it with the piece of cardboard. Read the next portion of Elder Scott's quote:
"…The bedrock of character is integrity. Worthy character will strengthen your capacity to obediently respond to the direction of the Spirit. Righteous character is what you are becoming. It is more important than what you own, what you have learned, or what goals you have accomplished. It allows you to be trusted. Righteous character provides the foundation of spiritual strength. It enables you in times of trial and testing to make difficult, extremely important decisions correctly even when they seem overpowering. I testify that neither Satan nor any other power can weaken or destroy your growing character. Only you could do that through disobedience" (Ibid.)
Invite another helper to come forward and put the lightest item in the middle of the cardboard. Did it collapse? Why or why not? Have that same helper place a medium weight item on the cardboard. Did it collapse? Why or why not? Now place the heaviest item. Did it collapse? Why or why not? Thank the child and ask him to sit down.
Remove the cardboard and put the strong wood item (or plastic) to rest on the two glasses.
Read the final portion of Elder Scott's quote:
"Our Father's plan is marvelous. Your exercise of faith builds character. Fortified character expands your capacity to exercise faith. Thus, your confidence in conquering the trials of life is enhanced. And the strengthening cycle continues. The more your character is fortified, the more enabled you are to exercise the power of faith" (Ibid.).
Ask the family what Elder Scott is trying to teach. Listen to their responses without commenting, then have one final helper come forward to test the wood (or plastic) with all three items. When finished, ask why the three items could not cause the wood (or plastic) to cave in.
Application:
Ask the following questions:
How is this activity like the story about the bank vault? How is this activity about us on earth? Why do things collapse under weight? Why do we collapse under peer pressure? Invite your family to divide into teams. One team will find a scripture story to share about a person who did not collapse under pressure. The other team will find a scripture story about someone who did collapse under pressure. Each team is to look for what the person in the scriptures did or didn't do to remain strong.
After each team shares what they found, invite the family to mark the two scripture stories in their personal scriptures with today's date and a note about what they learned this evening. (Optional: have them record their thoughts in their journals.) Close with your testimony and an invitation to begin today making one new choice that will strengthen their inner bank vaults so that they will not collapse under the weight of temptation…even when things are heavy.
Closing Song: #78 God of Our Fathers, Whose Almighty Hand
Closing Prayer: By invitation.
Refreshments: A multi-layered cake could be a fun treat for tonight's FHE, emphasizing that we build our character "layer by layer," effort by effort, choice by choice. The easiest way to learn to how to make successful multi-layered cakes is to use store-bought cake mixes for the basic layers while you're learning the techniques. (It is the same with creating multi-layered successful lives…by using the basic success "layers" provided through the scriptures.)
Published by permission of Meridian Magazine www.meridianmagazine.com
