Come, Follow Me Thoughts and Activity Sheet for D&C 12-17; JSH 1:66-75 (Feb 23)

 This blogpost features some thoughts of mine and  an activity page to complement the Come Follow Me (CFM) reading for February 17-23, which covers Doctrine and Covenants 12-17 and Joseph Smith History 1:66-75.    Click here for an index and links to my CFM blogposts for other weeks.

These activity sheets are designed to print double-sided and cut in half.  They're perfect for reviewing or introducing the content found in the Come, Follow Me reading each week and would be great used in a classroom or home setting.   I have no children at home, nor do I have a calling working with youth, so I copy these to be handed out with the sacrament programs each week.  Kids, teens, and adults enjoy them...especially the word searches!

THE LINK TO THIS WEEK'S ACTIVITY PAGE  (in case it's not showing below)
 

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A CROSSROADS

I found myself at a crossroads about a decade ago when many people in my immediate circle were experiencing faith crises, mostly centered around the priesthood. Having been a member of the church my entire life I had never really given that much thought to the intricacies of the priesthood, and I found myself at a loss at what I could do to “help them”. Ultimately I realized that it wasn’t my role to help them. They had chosen which side of the line to stand on already and nothing I could say at that time was going to dissuade them or change their mind. After a lot of soul searching and study of my own, I came to realize that my only role in this situation was to work on strengthening my own testimony and to lift those in my circle who were still deciding where they stood.

I was serving in Young Women’s at the time and I felt a strong prompting that we needed to address the topic head-on. Controversy was very much swirling all around us in a very public light and I knew that sweeping it under the rug was going to cause more harm than good. I spent a lot of time studying and counseling with others who shared the same concerns I did and we not only dedicated a few different lessons and a panel to the topic, but also created a printed study guide of sorts for them to guide them as they sorted through their own feelings.

Sadly, I don’t know what ever happened to that study guide, but I remember it was filled with scriptures and quotes from church leaders who discussed the controversial topics boldly.

I’ll pontificate and share more about the priesthood in future weeks, but, for now, I’ll just share that I’m grateful to live in a day and time when the priesthood is on the earth. I do not hold it, but I am blessed by it every day.

I’ll close off with one quote that I love on this topic:

“It is by letting the world go and coming unto Christ that we increasingly live as women of God. We were born for eternal glory. Just as faithful men were foreordained to hold the priesthood, we were foreordained to be women of God. We are women of faith, virtue, vision, and charity who rejoice in motherhood and in womanhood and in the family. We are not panicked about perfection, but we are working to become more pure. And we know that in the strength of the Lord we can do all righteous things because we have immersed ourselves in His gospel (see Alma 26:12). I repeat, we cannot be women of the world, for we are latter-day women of God. As President Kimball taught, “No greater recognition can come to [us] in this world than to be known as [women] of God”

Sheri Dew, “We Are Women of God,” October 1999

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Here's an old FHE lesson from my files that might be helpful as you discuss the topic further:



Additionally, here is another blogpost {from a previous year}, which includes a different activity sheet and lots of ideas for teaching about the Priesthood keys. 

Enjoy learning the gospel together!  💗

What Does it Mean to Live the Doctrine of Christ? (YW and Aaronic Priesthood Lesson)

Me, my daughter, and husband are all separately teaching this lesson on Sunday. Here are a few thoughts on teaching that we’ve gathered in our studies this week.

First, before we really get down to discussing what it means to LIVE the Doctrine of Christ, let’s first discuss what actually is the Doctrine of Christ? Lucky for us, the “Come, Follow Me” reading for this week gives us the answers and in plain terms.   Don't you just love how Nephi uses a variation of the word "PLAIN" three times in two sentences in 2 Nephi 31:2-3?  😂 It's like he really wants us to know that the doctrine of Christ is not meant to be complicated.

  I created this visual, based on the episode of “Don’t Miss This” for this week. {By the way, if you don’t watch or listen to the “Don’t Miss This” podcast yet, you’re missing out! They really add a lot of insight and perspective to my CFM studies each week.}   So, I was going to draw this hand large on the board (or you could have it printed out if you prefer) and have them look up the scriptures and fill in the blanks.  This could be a group activity with the class looking up the scriptures one at a time and filling it in together, or you could have them fill it out individually first, then discuss each part afterward.  I think they definitely should be copying this visual down into their journals as they go.  

Then we were going to go through each of the fingers and fill in the blanks, so it'll look something like this: 

Then we will talk about the center of the hand, because the whole Doctrine of Christ  really does begin and end with Christ.    It is through Him that we have the gifts of faith, repentance, baptism, and the Holy Ghost in the first place.   And it is through His atonement that we can return to live with Him again someday. 

I plan on having a copy of this completed one done for them to tape into their journals.  They could also copy it into their journals from the board if that works better for your class.

I was thinking that we would finish up this part of the discussion with reading Moroni 7:41:“And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise.”

Then I plan on asking if the Doctrine of Christ sounds familiar to them?   They may recognize that most of it is mentioned in the 4th Article of Faith, and more importantly, it's what they've been learning their whole lives!

 After discussing the simplicity, beauty, and importance of what the Doctrine of Christ is, I thought we'd start talking about what it means to live it.   These two quotes from Elder Ballard's talk (the one mentioned in the lesson) would be a great place to start:

"The best ways for us to see the spiritual purposes of the Church are to live the true, pure, and simple teachings of Christ and also to apply the Savior’s two great commandments: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart. … Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”   Elder Ballard

" Loving God and loving our neighbors is the doctrinal foundation of ministering; home-centered, Church-supported learning; Sabbath-day spiritual worship; and the work of salvation on both sides of the veil supported in the Relief Societies and the elders quorums. All of these things are based on the divine commandments to love God and to love our neighbors. Can there be anything more basic, more fundamental, and more simple than that?" Elder Ballard

I really want to keep the focus on the plainness and simplicity of the Doctrine of Christ, so my plan was to ask a few questions from the lesson plan after reading the quotes and let that lead where our discussion goes from there.  

•  How do each of these principles of the gospel relate to each other? 
• What blessings do we receive when we follow the doctrine of Christ?

What would you add to this lesson?   I'd love to hear your thoughts on it too!    And let me know if you end up using any of these ideas in your lesson.  :)