Being a Wise and Faithful Steward Lesson Plan and a CFM Activity Sheet for D&C 51-57 (Jun 1)

 This blogpost features a lesson plan on being a wise steward and a half-sheet activity page to complement the Come Follow Me (CFM) reading for  May 26 - June 1, which includes D&C 51-57.    Click here for an index and links to my CFM blogposts for other weeks.
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BEING A FAITHFUL AND WISE STEWARD

Here is a sample lesson based on the section in the Come, Follow Me manual this week, entitled:  "The Lord wants me to be a faithful, just, and wise steward."      It's likely too much information for one class, so you'll need to adjust it  for the age, understanding, and attention span of your class.

DEFINE THE WORD, "STEWARD":  
I found this great definition on the church website, here.  "A person who takes care of the affairs or property of another. That which a steward cares for is called a stewardship. All things on earth belong to the Lord; we are His stewards. We are accountable to the Lord, but we may report on our stewardship to God’s authorized representatives. When we receive a calling of service from the Lord or His authorized servants, that stewardship may include both spiritual and temporal affairs."  

Make sure they really understand the concept that whenever we're given something to take care of or to watch over that we are given stewardship.  This could be as simple as a chore they've been assigned, a calling they have, making sure they are completing homework, helping take care of a pet or younger sibling, etc.

DISCUSS THE KINDS OF THINGS EVERYONE HAS STEWARDSHIP OVER:  
Talk about how there are certain things that God has blessed us with that everyone in the whole wide world has been given the same stewardship over for our whole lives.   Ask if they have any thoughts first, before sharing my thoughts below.  Each of these could make for a whole lesson in and of themselves, so keep it pretty short, unless this is the direction you feel inspired to go:
 
1. Our bodies:  This is HUGE.   Ask how many bodies each of us has?  Of course the answer is ONE.   Remind them that our bodies are a beautiful gift from Heavenly Father and that He expects us to take care of it, by exercising, getting enough sleep, and not putting harmful substances into it, etc.  This is a stewardship we have our whole lives.  
2. The world we live in:  Every single person on the whole earth is a part of of the human community and we should do our best to be a wise steward of the beautiful earth that God created.  This could mean not leaving trash outside, planting flowers, or finding ways to reduce energy usage. 
3. Our spirits:  Our parents can teach us and help us, but ultimately it's up to us whether we seek to stay close to Christ.  We can be wise stewards when we turn away from internet sites, shows, music, books, and video games that would damage our spiritual sensitivity. 
4. Our talents/spiritual gifts:   Every person in the world has their own talents and spiritual gifts and Jesus taught that to be a wise steward, we should share those talents and gifts with others.  Remind them that every person is unique and that we shouldn't compare our talents and gifts to another person's. 
5. Our time:  We each have 24-hours a day and to be wise stewards, we should be aware of those things in our life that distract us from doing what we need.  

 SUMMARIZE D&C 51:
Depending on the age of your students, you can have them skim the chapter and look for stewardship principles, or you can read a few key verses {51:8-9, 51:13-14, 51:18-19}.  Or if your students are too young to read fluently, tell them about the examples of stewardship found in the aforementioned verses. 

SHARE AN EXAMPLE FROM YOUR LIFE WHEN YOU'VE BEEN A STEWARD. 
Talk about how you ended up with the responsibility and how you performed it.  

GO AROUND THE ROOM AND ALLOW EVERYONE THE OPPORTUNITY TO SHARE A TIME WHEN THEY'VE BEEN A STEWARD
Give them a minute to think and make sure to let them know you'll be going around the room and asking everyone to share.  If someone is struggling to come up with one on their own, use prompts to help them think of something.   If it's a student that just refuses to speak up, don't push it.  

SHARE AN EXAMPLE FROM YOUR LIFE WHEN YOU HAVE NOT BEEN A FAITHFUL STEWARD. 
Don't make this a long story, but share a time when you were trusted to take care of something and you failed. {this could be as simple as forgetting to feed the dog, not practicing your music, or not doing your chores...whatever you think will resonate with your class}  Talk about the consequences of your failure and how it affected whomever or whatever you were given stewardship over.   Maybe mention how it affected your relationship with the  people who assigned you the stewardship.

DISCUSS:   TRUST AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO STEWARDSHIP
After hearing your class members share about their experiences with stewardship and sharing your experience with failing at a stewardship, talk about how TRUST is an important part of stewardship.  When we receive a calling or are given responsibility to do something, that means that that person trusts enough to follow through.   Talk about how the best way to keep someone's trust is to honor that by being a wise and faithful steward.  

DISCUSS THE IMPORTANCE OF REPENTANCE
Note:  Keep this discussion super positive.  Many people often have a negative view of repentance and think they're "bad" if they're not doing everything right and I think it's really important to discuss how everyone messes up sometimes and that Christ does not expect us to be perfect.  What really matters is what we do when we do make mistakes.  Do we seek to repent and change?  Or do we keep on doing whatever it is we're doing?  

BEAUTIFUL QUOTE FROM APRIL 2025 GENERAL CONFERENCE ABOUT REPENTANCE:
"It saddens me to admit this, but I used to measure my relationship with the Savior by how perfectly I was living. I thought an obedient life meant I would never need to repent. And when I made mistakes, which was every single day, I distanced myself from God, thinking, “He must be so disappointed in me.”   That’s just not true.  I’ve learned that if you wait until you’re clean enough or perfect enough to go to the Savior, you’ve missed the whole point!  What if we thought about commandments and obedience in a different way?  I testify that while God cares about our mistakes, He cares more about what happens after we make a mistake. Are we going to turn to Him again and again? Are we going to stay in this covenant relationship?" Tamara Runia

TALK ABOUT HOW JESUS IS THE PERFECT EXAMPLE OF BEING A WISE AND FAITHFUL STEWARD
 Ask your students to think of examples from Jesus's life that showed that he was a wise and faithful steward.   This list could be quite long, but here are a few I thought of: 

1. his stewardship of teaching people the principles of the gospel
2. his stewardship of showing the power of the priesthood by healing and helping the sick and poor
3. his stewardship of loving and serving the people (even washing the disciples' dirty feet)
4. ultimately his stewardship of redeeming us from our sins.  

CONCLUSION:  ASK  IF THEY CAN THINK OF ANY WAYS THAT THEY CAN FOLLOW THE SAVIOR'S EXAMPLE OF BEING A WISE STEWARD.
Listen to their thoughts and be encouraging. 

Bear your testimony and finish up. 

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ADDITIONAL STUDY MATERIAL: 
My  daughter pointed out to me that this recent Young Adult devotional  by Sister Johnson goes along perfectly with this topic and would be good to add to your studies when preparing your lesson/talk on this topic. 

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PRINTABLE CFM ACTIVITY SHEET

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.

HERE IS THE LINK TO THE ACTIVITY SHEET, IN CASE IT'S NOT SHOWING BELOW.

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Be sure to bookmark this site and come back every week for more CFM material!

Enjoy learning the gospel together! 💗
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Sharing the Light and Sparkle of Christ and a CFM Activity Sheet for D&C 49-50 (May 25)

     This blogpost features some thoughts about the Light of Christ, as well as a  half-sheet activity page to complement the Come Follow Me (CFM) reading for  May 19-25, which includes D&C 49-50.    Click here for an index and links to my CFM blogposts for other weeks.
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SHARING THE LIGHT AND SPARKLE OF CHRIST

I love the section  in this week's reading entitled:

“That which is of God is light.”

The section is based on these scriptures:

"And that which doth not edify is not of God, and is darkness. That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day. And again, verily I say unto you, and I say it that you may know the truth, that you may chase darkness from among you;"  D&C 50:23-25

I have always loved the analogy of  Christ being a light.   I think of how, even in the darkest abyss, a flicker of light will instinctively draw you to it and as long as we keep Christ in our lives, He can be the flicker of hope and light when our lives seem dark.  

This thought reminds me of a time when I was younger and I came to an open field in the summertime that was glittering with thousands of fireflies. It was a magical experience and it made think that God placed fireflies on the earth to bring sparkle and light to dark places.   If you haven't ever experienced this phenomena, I highly recommend adding it to your bucket list!

picture source

Just as the moon could not shine without the light of the sun, our power to be a light is increased when we have Christ as our guide.  

In the Bible, it says this about Jesus, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” John 8:12

I believe that all light--literal and figurative--comes from Christ. The sparkle and light that emanate from each of us are a gift from God to give us perspective in dark times and to help brighten the lives of those around us. If you ever feel that your light is feeling a little dim, look to Christ and allow His light to ignite yours.

I love this quote from Elder Uchtdorf about feeling like you’re in the dark:
“Even in the darkest of nights, the sun does not cease to radiate its light. It continues to shine as bright as ever. But half of the earth is in darkness. The absence of light causes darkness.

When the darkness of night falls, we do not despair and worry that the sun is extinguished. We do not postulate that the sun is not there or is dead. We understand that we are in a shadow, that the earth will continue to rotate, and that eventually the rays of the sun will reach us once again.

Darkness is not an indication that there is no light. Most often, it simply means we’re not in the right place to receive the light.”

We all have times when we feel like we’re in the dark and I  have to remind myself sometimes that darkness is temporary.  It doesn't mean that it doesn't feel suffocating when you're in the midst of it, but when I'm in those times, it helps to shift my perspective a bit, to express gratitude for whatever flicker of light I can see, and to make time for Christ in whatever capacity I can.   When I seek out the light, I can always find it, though it sometimes feels dim and far off.   Then, one step at a time, I shakily make my way toward that light.

"A New Light Shining" by Yongsung Kim

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PRINTABLE CFM ACTIVITY SHEET

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.  

Here is the link to the activity sheet, in case it's not showing below:


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Make sure to bookmark this site and check back every week for new resources to go along with the Come, Follow Me reading for the week. 

Enjoy learning the gospel together!

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Thoughts on Hope

In August of 2017 our family drove to Greenville, South Carolina so that we could be in the path of totality when the solar eclipse arrived. It was a long drive for something that only lasted a couple of minutes, but I will never forget that incredible moment when the crickets started chirping and darkness arrived in the middle of the afternoon. Another moment I’ll never forget was when the moment of totality ended. I put my eclipse glasses back on and looked upward to see that only the tiniest sliver of the sun was showing again, but that tiny sliver was enough to dispel the darkness and bring the daylight back again.

Afterward we had a family home evening lesson and talked about the scripture 1 Nephi 31:20, which reads:

“Press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.”

Then we related it to our experience of watching the solar eclipse. How often circumstances of life can make us feel like we’re in the darkness, but when we look to Christ, the source of true hope and heavenly light, He can dispel the darkness. He can take that tiny sliver of hope and help it become the perfect brightness that we seek in difficult times.

A few months later I thought of this experience when I read President Uchtdorf's talk, “Bearers of Heavenly Light”  from October 2017 General Conference.

He said:

“Night is nothing more than a shadow.

Even in the darkest of nights, the sun does not cease to radiate its light. It continues to shine as bright as ever. But half of the earth is in darkness.

The absence of light causes darkness.

When the darkness of night falls, we do not despair and worry that the sun is extinguished. We do not postulate that the sun is not there or is dead. We understand that we are in a shadow, that the earth will continue to rotate, and that eventually the rays of the sun will reach us once again.

Darkness is not an indication that there is no light. Most often, it simply means we’re not in the right place to receive the light….”

I love that.   Instead of feeling overwhelmed and like there is no light when I am in one of the dark abysses in life, I need to start looking for where I can find the light. 

President Uchtdorf, in the same talk,  told us that:

“Spiritual hope and light rarely comes to those who merely sit in darkness waiting for someone to flip a switch. First, we need to start where we are and don’t feel discouraged by how dark it seems. Second, turn our hearts toward the Lord. He is always there. He wants us to feel hope and light. And third, walk in and embrace the light.”

We need action!   Isn't that one of the basic tenets of the gospel?   We need to get up and move.  We need to press forward, searching for that perfect brightness of hope.   What does that look like?   It means putting one foot in front of the other day-after-discouraging-day and turning to Christ.   No matter how far off or small the light may seem, I know that when we turn our hearts towards the Lord, He will always be there to help us feel hope and the pure love and light of Christ.

 As Moroni says in 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.”

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What brings you hope?  What do you do when you feel hope waning in your life?

Living After the Manner of Happiness

Happiness is not something that always comes easily to me, which is probably why 2 Nephi 5:27 has always fascinated me.

“And it came to pass that we lived after the manner of happiness.”

What does that even mean? I’ve experienced enough hard things in my life that I’m always a little cynical of the whole “follow this formula and you’ll get this result” way of thinking that sometimes gets preached in Sunday School. What if I follow the formula and didn’t get the desired result? Does that mean that I did something wrong? Or that my way of following the formula was not as good as my Sunday School friend did? Or maybe that I don’t actually deserve the blessings in the first place?

Or maybe I’m asking all the wrong questions.

Most of us can easily recite the words to, “I Am a Child of God”, yet do we really believe the words? President Packer said, that “No idea has been more destructive of happiness, no philosophy has produced more sorrow, more heartbreak and mischief; no idea has done more to destroy the family than the idea that we are not the offspring of God”

Sometimes I think we get so caught up in the complexities of life that we do forget that we are literally children of God. He knows me. He loves me. And he absolutely wants me to be happy. That doesn’t mean that I’ll be happy in every moment, but that in the trenches of life when I’m bogged down and not feeling happy, that is when it is most important to remember our divine heritage and to look forward to happiness to come.

I love this quote from Elder Uchtdorf: “My dear brothers and sisters, it may be true that man is nothing in comparison to the greatness of the universe. At times we may even feel insignificant, invisible, alone, or forgotten. But always remember—you matter to Him! God sees you not only as a mortal being on a small planet who lives for a brief season—He sees you as His child. He sees you as the being you are capable and designed to become. He wants you to know that you matter to Him.”

Let me repeat that...you matter to Him! He cares about you and your journey.

In 2 Nephi 26:33 it reads, “...he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him…”

President Hinckley said of this scripture, “I believe {that scripture} is saying to each of us, be happy. The gospel is a thing of joy. It provides us with a reason for gladness. Of course there are times of sorrow. Of course there are hours of concern and anxiety. We all worry. But the Lord has told us to lift our hearts and rejoice”

I read that quote and thought back to the time several years ago when our 16-year-old son was living full-time in the hospital for many months. He had an aggressive form of cancer with less than a 50% chance of surviving. Additionally, less than a week after his diagnosis, Glen very unexpectedly lost his job. We were completely blindsided by two enormous life-changing stressors at once and it was hard not to feel overwhelmed with the enormity of what we were facing.



But guess what?

We may not have been all that happy during that time, but we were okay. I never in a million years would want to repeat that experience, but I believe that by “living after the manner of happiness” that we were blessed with an underlying sense of calmness that overcame the feelings of overwhelm. We absolutely went through a lot of really crappy things and didn’t know what amount of even more crappy things might be coming our way, but we somehow just knew in our hearts that we’d be okay. We had no sense of what okay would look like, but whatever the result of Spencer’s treatment and Glen’s job search, that in the end we’d be okay.

And we were.

We struggled mightily along the way (and our struggles are far from over), but even amidst the struggles we had that underlying sense of calm, glimpses of the divine, and a knowledge that God was in the details of it.

So what does “living after the manner of happiness” mean to me?

It means doing my best to live in a way that God can communicate with me, so that I can allow myself to feel his comfort and love, in good and bad times. It means putting one foot in front of the other and seeking for ways to fill my life with beauty, meaning, and love. It means putting aside the distractions for a time each day and looking for ways I can partake of his goodness. It means being vulnerable and allowing people to help me when I’m struggling. It means seeking for ways to build and support those around me who may be struggling more than they appear. It means remembering when I'm not happy, that happiness will return...eventually. It means being mindful and recognizing God’s hand in my life. And it means remembering who I am and trusting that God wants me to be happy.

 What does "living after the manner of happiness" mean to you?   I'd love to hear what's on your mind.

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SOURCES:

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2011/10/you-matter-to-him?lang=enghttp://www.byui.edu/devotionals/elder-jeffrey-r-holland
https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/marlin-k-jensen/living-manner-of-happiness/

Thoughts on Motherhood

It was over nineteen years ago, but I still remember well those first exhausted moments after the birth of my first child.   I snuggled him in my arms, so excited to meet him finally, and my heart was filled with a mixture of joy, awe, and  pure panic.  Mostly though I daydreamed about the future of our little family and I couldn’t wait to get to the bedtime stories, sloppy toddler kisses,  and the cookie baking.

 It didn't take too long though before motherhood started to get a little more complicated.  There were still the joys of sleepy snuggles, contagious baby giggles,  and the excitement of watching them grow and progress. But with those joys also came the challenges of painful ear infections,  toddler tantrums, and juggling the needs of two, then three, then four, then five children.  

Each of the five children that has come to our family has brought with them their own unique personality and set of joys and challenges.    I expected the zits and the hormones and the homework woes as they grew older, but having a child face an aggressive form of cancer and another child with frequent seizures definitely were not things I dreamt about  when I gazed  into the eyes of each our newborn children.   

I think each of us knows deep down inside that whenever life is overwhelming, we can turn to God and He will be there.   Sometimes, though,  when life is smoother sailing we let God slip to the back burner in the busyness that consumes our  day-to-day lives.  

I’ve shared this experience with you before, but  I think back to that morning in January almost three years ago.  I  was preparing a sacrament meeting talk and spent a couple of hours that day studying the scriptures and reading general conference talks.  Sometime during that study time,  I  suddenly became  so overwhelmed with the absolute knowledge that God loved me personally and was aware of me and family.  At the time I had  no  reason to think that that day would be any different than any other.  Yet God knew.  He knew the storm that laid before us and he, in a very real way,  spiritually prepared me for the earth shattering phone call we received just a few hours later that my sixteen-year-old son had leukemia.   And the news that came just a couple days after that that Glen had been laid off from his job.    

I often think back to that day and wonder how different those next several months could have been if I had not taken the time that morning to allow myself to listen to the message that God wanted me to hear.    What if I had skipped my scripture study and prayer time, as sometimes happens on busy days, and gone straight to chores and errands instead?   I have no doubt that eventually I still would have felt that comforting message, but how grateful I am to have had that comfort in my heart  from the earliest moments of that very difficult time in our lives.   

Elder Bednar said in a recent conference:  

"We are not and never need be alone. We can press forward in our daily lives with heavenly help. Through the Savior’s Atonement we can receive capacity and “strength beyond [our] own”  1

I testify that many times in our lives we have felt that strength beyond our own that comes from the Savior’s atonement.  

Elder Bednar continued ,

“There is no physical pain, no spiritual wound, no anguish of soul or heartache, no infirmity or weakness you or I ever confront in mortality that the Savior did not experience first. In a moment of weakness we may cry out, “No one knows what it is like. No one understands.”   But the Son of God perfectly knows and understands, for He has felt and borne our individual burdens. And because of His infinite and eternal sacrifice, He has perfect empathy and can extend to us His arm of mercy. He can reach out, touch, succor, heal, and strengthen us to be more than we could ever be and help us to do that which we could never do relying only upon our own power. Indeed, His yoke is easy and His burden is light. 1

I write this from the perspective of a mother, but  what a powerful message to each of us.  Whether we be a woman, man, teenager, or child...this message is universal.  God is with us.  He wants to take your burdens upon him.  We have but to find the quiet moments in our lives that we can turn our hearts to him and truly listen.   And as mothers (and fathers) we have a very real opportunity to help create those moments for our families.  

This quote from Sister Beck that illustrates this point perfectly:  

“Mothers who know do less. They permit less of what will not bear good fruit eternally. They allow less media in their homes, less distraction, less activity that draws their children away from their home. Mothers who know are willing to live on less and consume less of the world’s goods in order to spend more time with their children—more time eating together, more time working together, more time reading together, more time talking, laughing, singing, and exemplifying. These mothers choose carefully and do not try to choose it all. Their goal is to prepare a rising generation of children who will take the gospel of Jesus Christ into the entire world. Their goal is to prepare future fathers and mothers who will be builders of the Lord’s kingdom for the next 50 years. That is influence; that is power.”  2

How is easy it is to get caught up in trying to do more, to compare ourselves with others, and to let the meaning of our lives get lost in filling the slots on the calendar….when truly all we really need is less!   

A study at Harvard followed subjects for 75-years and found that future success and fulfillment  in life is not predictable based on income, intelligence, or education level, but rather on the positive connections an individual has with their families.  We would do better to eat dinner together as a family daily than to sign our kids up for yet another “enriching” activity that takes them away from home and will likely bear no impact on their future lives .  3

I will close today by inviting each of  us to remember the example of  Mary--the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ.  She knew from the beginning that her son was the son of God and had a glorious mission to fulfill and yet she did not allow that knowledge to overwhelm her into complacency.  She embraced her role as mother and loved him and taught him and helped raise him to be the Savior of the World.  

Even in the final moments of Christ’s life he spoke of his mother.  He never forgot, even in His anguish, the woman who cared for Him even before she could hold Him in her arms—the earthly mother who had prepared Him for a divine mission. 4

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Resources

1.  Bear Up Their Burdens with Ease by David A. Bednar

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/04/bear-up-their-burdens-with-ease?lang=eng

2.  Mothers Who Know by Julie Beck

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2007/10/mothers-who-know?lang=eng

3. The 75-year study that found the secrets to a fulfilling life:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/11/how-this-harvard-psycholo_n_3727229.html

4.  Motherhood

http://motherhood.mormon.org

Teaching Kids About Sex From a Gospel Perspective (FHE Lesson)

First off, I have to say that I firmly believe that teaching kids about sex is not a one time deal.  In this sex saturated day and age, we need to have an open line of communication with our children, so that they are not afraid to come to us when they have questions.   This lesson, in my opinion, is a conversation starter.  It's a way to teach the basics from a positive, gospel perspective and to let our kids know that we're not afraid to talk about a sensitive subject.  

This lesson was one I received in a FHE exchange group several years ago.  I was totally amazed that someone would tackle such a weighty topic, but I've been forever grateful that she did.  It has been such an excellent resource for our family and it's by far my most lent out lesson. 

First thing you need to do (after you print out the lesson) is order this book from Amazon (or check it out from the library):

The Wonderful Way That Babies Are Made,(If you store your lessons in manila envelopes like I do, I love that this book is perfectly sized to slip right inside.  That means it's out of sight from the kids and is always easily accessed when we need it.)

This book teaches about sex from a Christian (but non-LDS) perspective and is filled with beautiful illustrations.  My favorite part about this particular book is that there are two levels to it:  On each page you'll find larger print with text geared towards younger children (under 8), while the smaller text is more detailed and thorough information meant for older kids (8+).  

The lesson outline provides the background and the gospel perspective on sex while the book is where the details of sex will be shared.

Also included in the lesson are guidelines for determining proper timing of discussions and a recommend resource page for books and articles.  

Click here for an index of my other ready-to-print FHE lessons (with more every Monday). 


TEACHING KIDS ABOUT SEX FHE LESSON (click here for link to the PDF on google drive if it's not showing below) 



Here's a link to another great resource from my friend Jocelyn over at We Talk of Christ, We Rejoice in Christ with a very cute printable booklet on the subject! 

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