FHE 04/14/08

We had a nice Family Home Evening (FHE) tonight. The topic for tonight's lesson was obedience. We sang "Quickly I'll Obey" as an opening song and I gave the opening prayer. Then I told the story of Jonah and the whale. We discussed that he was a prophet who was asked by God to go to Nineveh and tell the people to repent or they would be destroyed. He disobeyed and got on a ship instead. (I had a picture of a ship.) Then a storm came and he was tossed overboard and swallowed by a very large fish. I had a paper fish whose mouth was fastened on with a brad so that it would open and close. And he swallowed Jonah. He was in the fish for three days and prayed. The fish spit him out and he was then obedient. He went to Nineveh, cried repentance to the people, and they did repent.

We talked about how the scriptures talk about obeying our parents. And we also incorporated our scripture mastery for this week:

1 Nephi 17:50
If God had commanded me to do all things I could do them.

And since God has commanded us to obey our parents, we need to do that. We closed by singing "Choose the Right Way" and then Mike gave the closing prayer.

Our whole FHE lasted about 10 minutes, which was perfect for the kids. Evan didn't pay much attention, but I didn't expect him to. I don't really care. I realize that we will be blessed for doing this, regardless of whether everyone is "present" or not. Hey, he stayed in the room with us. It's likely he picked up something. I'm happy.

It reminds me of a story I heard in General Conference a couple of years ago. I wish I could remember who gave the talk. Heck, I wish I could remember ANY of the talk, other than what I will relate here. He spoke of having FHE with his family when his kids were little. They often got discouraged because their 2-year-old would not join in and would not participate. They didn't pressure him. He was always off on the side, playing with his cars. One day they were recalling a previous lesson about Enoch and nobody was able to remember anything. And then that sweet two-year old piped up and recounted the entire story! They thought he wasn't paying attention... but he had been soaking it all in. That story really touched me. As I said, I don't remember who told it, but it is firmly planted in my heart.