Giving Your Best Effort to the Lord: Resource Page, Lesson Ideas, and a CFM Activity Sheet D&C 71-75 (July 6)

This blogpost features a resource page and some lesson ideas, along with a half-sheet activity page to complement the Come Follow Me (CFM) reading for  June 30 - July 6, which includes Doctrine and Covenants 71-75.    Click here for an index and links to my CFM blogposts for other weeks.

NOTE:  I am trying to decide whether it's worth the effort to continue doing these CFM posts for the second half of the year, so if you find these posts meaningful, PLEASE let me know.  They're getting challenging to keep up with and I need just a little feedback to know whether they're worth my time.  If you have constructive feedback on how I can improve them, I welcome that as well.  Thank you!   

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I CAN GIVE MY BEST EFFORT TO THE LORD:
There were several different directions to go with this week's reading, but the one that stood out to me the most, was about how we can give our best effort to the Lord. We all go through seasons of life when our efforts may seem exceedingly "small and simple," but the point is that you keep trying.  Christ multiplies our efforts and blesses us for trying!  Below, you will find teaching ideas and some resources as you study and prepare for your lesson or talk on this topic. 

"THE LORD'S MATH" OBJECT LESSON: 

MATERIALS NEEDED:
1. A small enough treat that you can give several to each child (but keep them in the original packaging for now)--this could be something like gummy bears, teddy grahams, M&Ms, skittles, etc.

2.  a container for the treats, but do NOT put anything into it for now

To get started:  Tell everyone you brought a treat to share with them.   Show them the bag of whatever you brought, then tell them that you are going to share some with them. 

Pretend to pour some treats into your bowl and announce, "I poured ZERO treats into this bowl to share with you.  Now hold out your hand and I'll share  ZERO treats with each of you."

When they protest, say something like "What does zero times zero equal?  Oh yeah, zero times zero is zero.  Now let me put 7 treats in here (or however many it takes so there is one for each person)."  

Then very dramatically give them each one treat and have them READ THE SCRIPTURE:  .  
"Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise."  Alma 37:6

Now pour out the whole bag and let everyone have a small handful of treats, and talk about  how when we don't put anything into the bowl, there was nothing to share and we all got zero treats from it.  BUT THE MORE YOU PUT INTO IT, THE MORE TREATS YOU GET FROM IT.    AND THE LORD BLESSES EVEN OUR SMALL EFFORTS TO DO BETTER!  

Now relate that to BLESSINGS and the relationship they have to our  EFFORT.    The more effort we give to righteous tasks, the more blessings we receive.   When we throw up our hands and say something is too hard (or that we're too busy) without really trying, we are forgoing the blessings that we could be receiving.   On the other hand, the Lord blesses us even when our efforts are SMALL and SIMPLE!    This is the Lord's math!  

VIDEOS: 
The Lord Loves Effort from President Nelson (short video clip)


Bastian the Baby Elephant Learns to Work Hard by Latter-Day Kids

SCRIPTURES: 
"Behold, I say unto you that it is my will that you should go forth and not tarry, neither be idle but labor with your might..." D&C 75:3

QUOTES:
“by small means the Lord can bring about great things.” One home evening, one gospel conversation, or one good example may not change your child’s life in a moment, any more than one drop of rain causes a plant immediately to grow. But the consistency of small and simple things, day after day, nourishes your children much better than an occasional flood.”   Elder Uchtdorf

“Your power will be multiplied many times by the Lord. All He asks is that you give your best effort and your whole heart. Do it cheerfully and with the prayer of faith. The Father and His Beloved Son will send the Holy Ghost as your companion to guide you. Your efforts will be magnified in the lives of the people you serve.” President Henry B. Eyring

TALKS TO STUDY:
Two Principles for Any Economy by Elder Uchtdorf (Oct 2009)
In the Path of Their Duty by Elder Bednar (Oct 2023)

SONG:
"I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go," Hymns, #270  (this version is so pretty and would be appropriate to show in a church setting)
https://youtu.be/XS17lrLxxrg?si=ONOfp95JFdU8jUBt

ORIGINAL ACTIVITY SHEET: 

THIS WEEK'S PRINTABLE ACTIVITY SHEET LINK (in case it's not showing below)


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Be sure to come back every week for more Come, Follow Me resources. 

Enjoy learning the Gospel together!  💗

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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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Staying Morally Clean FHE Lesson

I'm trying to publish my lessons without using Scribd.  What do  you think?  I've included the link to a printable version of the lesson to make printing it a little easier.  You'll have to right click on the pictures and copy and paste them into a word processing document before printing.  Please let me know if you prefer this method or publishing them ready-to-go on Scribd.   Click here for my entire FHE lesson index.   

Staying Morally Pure
click here for printable version ( mini versions of the pictures are included and the videos are removed)
Lesson by Lara Goold

Suggested Songs:
"True to the Faith,"  Hymns, page 254
"I Will Follow God's Plan," Children's Songbook, page 164
 "Choose the Right," Hymns, page 239

Lesson Purpose:  To help family members  understand that the effort it takes to stay morally clean is well worth the great rewards that will await them. 

Scripture:  "We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul - We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of  good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things."  Article of Faith #13
PREPARATION: 
1.  Gather items for the object lesson. You'll need a food item that they like, but is not very exciting to them (like a saltine cracker or a plain biscuit)  and some kind of treat that they will really enjoy (ice cream sundaes would fit with the lesson perfectly)
2.  Print off the Mormonad pictured below (or recreate it in real life)
3.  Print off picture of human cell (below)
4.  Find the  two videos mentioned in the lesson and have them opened, loaded and ready to show your family. 
5.  Prayerfully study:  Today's Family:  Protect the Power to Create Life


OPENING PRAYER:


OBJECT LESSON:   Offer your family a simple treat that they would like, but not be very excited about (a saltine cracker, a plain biscuit, a slice of bread, etc).  Hand it to them, let them hold it through the lesson, and tell them that they are welcome to eat that treat now.  But if they are willing to wait until the end of the lesson, then they won't be able to have the first treat but instead can have another more appealing treat (like an ice cream sundae).   Don't make a big deal about it...just make sure they understand that if they eat the treat now that they won't be able to have the one at the end of the lesson. 

LESSON:  
Banging on the piano:  If you have a piano in your house, have someone briefly sit down and play it loudly and poorly.  If you don't have a piano, then ask your family to imagine what it sounds like when an untrained person (like a baby or toddler) plays. 

Then show this video:

Talk about how amazing the performance was and how much you enjoyed it. 

Point out that although it was the same instrument, that there were some pretty big differences between the two performances.   Have them elaborate what was the difference between the two (it's all about playing the right notes, in the right order, with the right timing).  

RELATE:  Relate this concept to physical intimacy.  When done at the right time and right place and right order (as part of a loving marital relationship), then it is beautiful and sacred.  If played out of order and without the right timing, it turns ugly.  If you feel inspired, you can further elaborate on what the ugliness of physical intimacy out of wedlock entails (hurt feelings, possible STD's, possible baby being born without the privilege of coming into a stable, loving family, skewed sense of what a healthy commitment is, damaged self-esteem, jealousy, desensitization to the spirit, etc.)

SHOW this MORMONAD (or recreate it with a real ice cream sundae and a real bug): 

right click on picture, then copy and paste it into a word processing document
where you will be able to adjust it to the desired size before printing. 

Ask them if they would like to eat the sundae.  Play it up and emphasize that it's a really big sundae and there's only a tiny bit defiled by the bug and the possible poison that might be on their bodies. 

DISCUSS: about how easy the decision is to make when it has to do with the food we put in our bodies, but how easily Satan would have us believe that playing with sacred things (dressing immodestly, viewing pornography, too much physical contact before marriage, etc) is fine if you don't "go all the way".    Emphasize how important it is to steer clear of "bugs" in our life that might be sneaking their way into our conduct and how worth it, it is to wait for the right time and the right place, so we can have the whole beautifully delicious ice cream sundae without the corruption of "spiritual bugs"! 


SHOW PICTURE OF HUMAN CELL: 

right click on picture, then copy and paste it into a word processing document
where you will be able to adjust it to the desired size before printing.

Ask your family if they know what it the picture is of.  They will probably guess a cell of some sort, so ask them to guess what kind of cell. 

When they guess or you tell them that they are human cells, talk about how amazing it is that our bodies are made up of so many tiny particles. 

DISCUSS:  Just how our bodies are made up of millions of tiny cells, that our lives are made up of all the small and large decisions we make on a day-to-day basis.  The music we listen to, the people we spend our time with, the movies we watch, the way we treat our siblings, etc  are the core of what makes us into the person that we are. 

RELATE:  If we have a goal of a temple marriage, then we should be making all of the small, seemingly insignificant decisions we face each day, reflect that goal. 

CONCLUDING VIDEO and TREATS:   Watch this video while you eat the long-awaited ice cream sundae (or whatever treat you have prepared).  


TESTIMONY:  Bear your testimony of the importance of staying morally clean and pure.  If inspired, share some of your personal feelings. 

CLOSING PRAYER:  


REFRESHMENTS:   ice cream sundaes


Display for the week: 

download full size image here

Additional Reading Material: 

YW Manual #1, Lesson 32:  Personal Purity through Self Discipline

Article from lds.org:  Protect the Power to Create Life

lds.org article on Chastity

lds.org/youth article:  Personal Purity

Display of 13th Article of Faith:  Mormonshare

For the Strength of Youth:  Sexual Purity








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