FHE Theme: Service
Scriptures: Mosiah 2:17, D&C 24:7, Revelations 2:19
Songs: “Give Said the Little Stream” and “Happy Helper” in the Children’s Songbook
Start off the lesson by putting together a puzzle as a family. Don’t pick a puzzle that is going to take a long time, but something your family can put together fairly quickly. And before you start the puzzle, take out a couple of the pieces and put them in your pocket – don’t let anyone see you do this!
While you’re putting the puzzle together, watch this short video from The Mormon Channel:
Ask your family how they think a puzzle and service are related. Then explain how a community consists of many people and many families, and just like it takes all the pieces to complete a puzzle, it takes all members of a community to make it a good place to live.
Get out the puzzle pieces you have in your pocket. Tell your family that these pieces represent them. While you can still see most of the picture without all the pieces, it’s not until you get the entire puzzle completed that everything looks just right. The same analogy can be applied to families, your ward, or the entire community – if we aren’t doing something to help those around us, then our environment is never going to be it’s very best.
Read the scriptures listed at the beginning of this lesson. Discuss as a family which each scripture means. Ask questions like:
• How is serving a neighbor like serving the Lord?
• What does it mean to have strength if you devote yourself to service?
• How does the last become more than the first when we give our time, money, and energy to service?
Finish the lesson by planning a family service project. It can be something as simple as planting a few flowers in a neighbor’s yard or cleaning up a graffiti-ed street sign, or you can enlist the help of other friends and church members to accomplish a big project like the video showed. The service project you plan should be on a scale that you know you can accomplish, because if you really want your family to understand the importance of service you’re going to need to follow through! (Which is surely something I need to work on.)
If you want to give your family members a handout to remind them about the lesson, check out this free printable: