DIY Party Mom: Come Follow Me Five Minute Family Home Evening January 4-10

With teenagers, there isn't a lot of time to make long winded Family Home Evening lessons. Use this quick and easy 5 minute lesson to teach your kids the power of prayer in their lives based on the story of Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove.

With all the craziness going on in the world, it's more important now then ever to make sure we are being good parents and teaching our children correctly.

I'm guilty of having fun with my kids every chance I get, and I do try to take small moments to teach important topics and words of wisdom, but I haven't been very good at formal teaching.

But of course, there isn't much time in a teenagers life for mom to go on long winded rants or Family Home evening lessons, so I'm creating a set of 5 minute Family Home Evening lessons based on the Come Follow Me curriculum of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Each Sunday, you'll find a quick and easy lesson to help teach your kids a part of the Doctrine and Covenants reading assignment for the next week.

This first week is on Joseph Smith History 1:1-26 and I'm focusing on prayer.

Attention activity:

Materials needed: A hand eggbeater (or whisk) and an electric mixer.

If you were to mix up a cake batter, which tool would you rather use.

You could get the job done with the hand mixer, but it would take a lot more time to get the batter smooth. (Use the recipe here for yummy brownie cookies for the FHE treat.) It would also prove to be very tiring. The electric mixer would be much easier to use. This is because you would be using an additional power source to help with the work.

Often times we try to do things on our own without enlisting the help from our Heavenly Father. He is there for us anytime we are willing to plug into the power source. We will find the burden to be lighter and the answers to our questions easier when we seek the guidance and strength of the Lord.

(Beth Lefgren and Jennifer Jackson, More Power Tools for Teaching, [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1991], p. 103).

Image Credit: Taryn Elliott

Lesson

Did you ever have a question that you didn't know the answer to?

What did you do to try and find the answer?

--Books

-- Teachers

-- Family

-- Friends

In 1820, a young boy had a question, the whole world changed when he asked.

Now our prophets tell us that we must learn to ask our questions and learn to hear the answers. We must learn to "Hear Him." We must learn to gain the answers to our questions.

"In coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost." (Russell M. Nelson)

We all have our own questions. Whether they are big or little.

Our Heavenly Father wants to help us. He doesn't want us to be lost, lonely, or afraid.

"Our Father knows that when we are surrounded by uncertainty and fear, what will help us the very most is to hear His Son." (Russell M. Nelson)

We can use the example of Joseph Smith to learn how to Hear Him and receive our own answers.

"If Joseph Smith's transcendent experience in the Sacred grove teaches us anything, it is that the heavens are open and that God speaks to His children." (Russel M Nelson)

1. He learned all he could --- Go to the temple, church meetings and classes, Prophet and leaders

2. Read the scriptures

3. Ponder -- listen to the Holy Ghost

4. Pray --go to the Lord and ask

5. Listen and the act

"To those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, it is clear that the Father and the Son are giving away the secrets of the universe!" (Neal A Maxwell)

Our Father in Heaven loves us and answers us. We just need to ask, listen, and act.