Being in the primary presidency, I had the chance to do a little reminder to the children in our primary on Reverence. This would make a great FHE on reverence as well. With the little kids, I used this cute Mr. Potato Head reverence idea and it really kept their attention. We talked about what each body part should be doing (eyes, ears, mouth, arms/hands, feet) as I put them on the Potato Head. And then I cut out a little heart out of construction paper and put it on the Potato Head too as I told them that when they do these things, it will help them feel the Spirit in their hearts.
For the older kids, I really wanted some kind of object lesson that would get and keep their attention, but I thought the Potato Head might be a little too “young” for them. I prayed and thought, jotted down some notes, and prayed some more. And finally I was blessed with what I thought was a great lesson. It could easily be done as a short (2-3 reminder) to primary kids or as a Family Home Evening lesson. And it involves cookies, so you know its going to be great! I didn’t give out cookies in primary – I didn’t want a food treat to be the focus of what they remembered. But cookies for a family home evening treat would be a great idea.
Here’s the lesson:
See this cookie? It’s kind of like the lessons in church. It takes time and effort to make cookies and it takes time and effort to prepare a lesson or talk for church.
But unlike when you’re making cookies, your teachers also include prayer and that means that we can receive revelation from Heavenly Father to make it just what you need to hear – Heavenly Father cares that much about you that He helps us prepare the lesson you need to hear. What’s really sad is when you’re so busy talking or trying to be silly, and you miss that message from Heavenly Father.
When we’re in primary we should
- stay in our seats
- raise our hands when we want to give an answer or ask a question
- be listening when a teacher is talking
But that’s not all.
If the lesson is like this cookie, you can enjoy looking at it while sitting quietly, but to really enjoy how sweet it is, it takes effort on your part. You have to lift it off the table, put it in your mouth, and chew it.
To really get something out of primary, to really be reverent, it’s not enough to just sit quietly. You need to
- come with a good attitude
- participate when asked to
- pay attention
- have a desire to learn of Jesus and His church
- you can even pray that you’ll feel the spirit teaching you
Then, just like enjoying the sweetness of a cookie you can enjoy the sweetness of the Spirit and of learning about Jesus and his Church.
So, we’re going to ask you to do your part to make primary a sweet experience.
You can be reverent by
- sitting still
- listening
- singing
- participating
- not shouting out
- not talking to your neighbor
- not trying to be silly
But you can also be reverent by
- having a good attitude
- a desire to learn about Jesus
- a prayer in your heart
We can still have fun, but we have to be careful not to let it get out of control. And if it starts to get that way and you’re asked to calm down, we need your help to get back to that sweet place.
Reverence can be a difficult topic to teach. If you have a great way to teach reverence, please share your idea! Or if you give these Reverence Cookies a try, let me know how it goes!
You might also enjoy these other Family Home Evening ideas.
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