Things have changed a bit with church this year. If you are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, you know what I’m talking about. Our Sunday meeting schedule has been shortened to allow us to do more studying with our families. The Church has come out with an awesome guide to help us study the New Testament this year. (Check it out? Come, Follow Me For Individuals and Families).
Each week, we are given a reading assignment followed by some additional insights and questions to help us think more deeply about the things we’re reading. We get to study as individuals, but also have the opportunity to study these same scripture segments as a family. Since out Church Leaders announced this change last Fall, I have been SO excited to get going on this with my family!
In preparation for our home study, I got each of my kids a journal that they can use to keep track of favorite scriptures, things they learn, and feelings and impressions they receive through the Holy Ghost. We’re two weeks in to this program, and it’s definitely been a bit of a learning curve for us. I’m sure we’ll continue to adjust the way we study as the year goes on, but one thing I hope to continue is the time I’ve spent creating printables that support the lessons I’m trying to teach my kids. I’ve created a few things for them to glue into their journals to help them remember some of the specific things I hope they get from their individual study.
Creating printables takes time, but it’s something I love to do. To be completely truthful, I look for excuses to be able to sit at my computer and design things. Since I’m taking the time to make them anyway, I thought some of you might be interested in using them for your families, too! So . . . here’s what I came up with to support the reading segment for this week (Matthew 2 and Luke 2).
Principle to Learn: “I Can Follow Jesus’ Example by Helping my Heavenly Father with His Work”
I introduced this principle to my kiddos by sharing the story in Luke, Chapter 2 about Jesus teaching in the temple as a child. We talked about what Jesus meant when he said, “Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” This discussion led to a question: “What, exactly, IS Heavenly Father’s business?” The answer to that question can be found in Moses 1:32:
After reading this scripture, we had a discussion about how Jesus teaching in the temple supported His Father’s work. Then we brainstormed a list of ways WE can help the Father with His work. Some of the ideas my kids came up with were:
* Helping people when they’re hurt
* Cleaning up – even when I didn’t make the mess
* Reading my scriptures and going to church
* Giving selfless acts of service
* Smiling and saying, “Hi” to people
* Helping with dinner
* Keeping myself under control
These are just a few of their ideas, but you get the picture. I wrote down the things they said and posted them in our Family Command Center.
At the end of our discussion, I gave my kids each a copy of the scripture to glue into their journals and asked them to write down one or two things they would be willing to do this week to help Heavenly Father with His work.
If you’re interested in using this scripture with your family, I’m attaching some printables for you. You may print as many as you like, free of charge, and are welcome to share with anyone and everyone you know. If you do choose to use my work, though, I would appreciate your giving credit to this little blog of mine.
Click the image above to download the jpg version of this image.
Click the image above for a pdf, in color. This will print 4 to a page.
Click the image above for a pdf, in black and white. This will print 4 to a page.
Principle to Learn: “I Can Follow Jesus’ Example by Learning, Growing and Becoming Better Each Day”
Luke 2:52 says: “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.”
I’ve always thought it interesting that this verse is so specific in the ways that Jesus grew as He got older. With it being the beginning of the new year, I decided to use this scripture as a guide for setting goals. We, too, can increase in wisdom (mental / intellectual goal), stature (health / physical fitness goal), in favor with God (spiritual goal), and in favor with man (social / emotional goal).
While I don’t necessarily set New Year’s Resolutions, I do think it’s a good idea to have goals to work toward. The sense of accomplishment that comes as you reach your goals is something you can’t really get in any other way. For this principle, I made a printable with spaces to write a goal for each of the four areas discussed above.
Again, if you’re interested in using this activity with your family, I’m attaching some printables for you. You may print as many as you like, free of charge, and are welcome to share with anyone and everyone you know. If you do choose to use my work, though, I would appreciate your giving credit to this little blog of mine.
Click the image above to download the jpg version of this image.
Click the image above for a pdf, in color. This will print 2 to a page.
Click the image above for a pdf, in black and white. This will print 2 to a page.
When we’re finished with this activity, we will cut it out and glue it into the journals for this week. These are just two ideas of things you can do to help your family learn something from these two chapters in the New Testament. There are SO many more! If your family needs the same kinds of lessons as mine, though, hopefully these will help you!
