I have been a major slacker this month. So, to make up for it, I'm morphing this week into a DOUBLE LESSON! BAM BAM KA-CHAOW!!!!!
Get the links to the actual lessons here:
WARNING: I'm straying from the Come Follow Me manual this week and going my own direction with the subjects. I think these areas are important and should be focused on individually, but I also feel like there's a bigger picture here that can encompass them as a whole. And it compliments the month's theme of being self-reliant too.
When Christ was on the earth, He set the perfect example for us to follow. We can study the scriptures and learn from the choices He made how we should act and live our lives. But here's the thing… When Christ was in His youth, we hardly have any information about who He was. We know the story of him in the temple when He was 12, but then there's a huge gap between then and His ministry when He was a lot older.
How can the young women relate to him during their teens?
This ONE scripture pretty much sums up his ENTIRE youth:
Luke 2:52
And Jesus a in b and stature, and in cwith God and man.
The footnotes for "favour" in this verse translates to "relationship." We are told four things about the Savior during his teens:
He increased in wisdom,
He increased in Stature,
He increased his relationship with God,
and He increased his relationship with man
Isn't that awesome?!?! I LOVE THIS SCRIPTURE! I love it because, to me, it shows that Christ was WELL BALANCED. Yes, He was spiritual and spent his youth studying the scriptures and increasing his testimony, BUT he also was able to enjoy other activities. He was physically active, he had a social life, and he gained knowledge and learned other things outside of the gospel!
When
Doctrine and Covenants 58:26-28 talks about being anxiously engaged in a good cause and doing things of our own free will, it makes me happy knowing our Heavenly Father wants us to enjoy our lives and make our own choices to participate in uplifting activities that don't necessarily have to be completely church related. He's happy when we're playing sports or when we join the school choir or when we dance or when we go bowling with our friends. As long as it brings to pass righteousness, we are following our Savior's example and we are pleasing our Heavenly Father.
BALANCE
"You remember lesson about balance? Lesson not just karate only. Lesson for whole life. Whole life have a balance. Everything be better."
-Mr. Miyagi
Bob Mathias was the Olympic Decathlon gold medalist back in 1948 and 1952. At age 17, he was the youngest gold medalist to win a track and field event. My dad used to tell me about him. You know why he was awesome? He never came in first in any of his events. "But Jesse, how can you win the decathlon without placing first in an event?" you may ask. I'll tell you….
He was well-rounded. Mathias would always place towards the top of each event. Most people were ridiculously awesome in a single area, but lacked skill in others. Bob was balanced and could keep up with the top athletes for each event without necessarily being "the star" of a single area.
Random side note: Ashton Eaton, who just won the Olympic Decathlon last year, went to my rival high school. So we totally competed at the same track meets. No big deal…
Since we dissected that Luke verse earlier, we can split the lesson up into four categories
MENTAL-
Education is an important part of our Heavenly Father's plan to help us become more like Him. Obtaining an education provides understanding and skills that can help us develop self-reliance. Education will also prepare us for greater service in our families, the Church, and the world.
Assign the young women to read individually one of the five paragraphs from the "Education" section of For the Strength of Youth. Ask them to explain to the class what they read, and discuss why it is important to work diligently now to gain a good education. Invite the young women to think about and share their goals to gain an education.
PHYSICAL-
Good health is an important part of being self-reliant. Safeguarding our health will allow us to fulfill our divine potential and serve others more effectively. The way we treat our bodies affects our spiritual health and our ability to receive guidance from the Holy Ghost. In order to preserve our health, we should obey the Word of Wisdom, eat nutritious food, exercise regularly, and get adequate sleep.
Christ learned from his earthly father, Joseph, how to be a carpenter. Do you know how strong carpenters are? Handling all that heavy wood and equipment every day? My dad worked in a lumber yard before he left on his mission and because of it, he gained some major arm muscle. Out of all the missionaries in the Barcelona mission field, he was undefeated at arm wrestling. He even beat some kid who was a New York high school state wrestling champion. And he wasn't this huge football player or anything. He was all skin and bones. I mean… Look at this guy!!
P.S. Finding pictures of your parents and grandparents from before you were born is just fantastic.
I like the PHYSICAL HEALTH video this lesson includes. It's a little long, but I love it when they show different perspectives of youth all around the world. It's easy to get trapped in your own personal bubble and forget that there are others around you experiencing the same kinds of things.
SPIRITUAL-
We are daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves us and wants us to draw near to Him. He has given us the opportunity to pray to Him and has promised to hear and answer our prayers. We can also come to know Him as we study the scriptures and the words of latter-day prophets and as we strive to become more like Him by following His will.
SOCIAL- How can the girls work on their relationship with others? Have the girls read the "Friends" section of
For the Strength of Youth.
*****
My desire this week is for the girls to recognize the importance of balancing their lives. If they find an area they're struggling with or trying to avoid, they should focus on improving it. All these areas are important and things that Christ worked on developing as well.
You know the
FIVE LOVE LANGUAGES quiz you can take to find your love language strengths? I made a quiz kind of like that to help the girls find out the areas in life they need to work on. I'm not a scientist or psychiatrist or whatever I need to be to make this a legit "studies show" type of test. So, it might not actually mean anything logical. But I thought it might be fun for the girls to help them determine what areas they need improvement in…
FOR EACH PAIR OF THE FOLLOWING
STATEMENTS, CIRCLE THE ONE THAT DESCRIBES YOU BEST.
1. I’m happy when I’m playing sports. B
I love
reading. I could curl up in bed
and read for hours. A
2. I love weekends when I can go out
and hang with my friends. D
I try to make
it to all my church activities, even if I have to miss out on other
activities. C
3. Getting good grades at school is very
important to me. A
After school, I
like to go to my friend’s house. D
4. I enjoy attend seminary and getting a
spiritual boost in the morning. C
I love that feeling
after working out when you’re sweaty and sore, but know you just did something
great for your body. B
5. I love it when I log on to Facebook and have lots of new
notifications. D
I always enjoy
P.E. at school because of the activities we get to participate in. B
6. When I watch TV, I don't mind watching educational
channels or documentaries. A
I try my best
at reading scriptures and praying everyday so I can have the Holy Ghost as my
constant companion. C
7. When I’m hungry for an afternoon snack,
I always try and grab something healthy, like fresh fruits or veggies from the
fridge. B
When I pick my class
schedule, I get excited about choosing extracurricular activities and taking
classes that I actually have an interest in. A
8. I enjoy reading General Conference
talks and The New Era magazine in my spare time. C
I don’t like
being home by myself. I’d rather
call a friend and go out. D
9. I’m pretty outgoing when it comes to making new
friends. D
I love the feeling
when something “clicks” and all the sudden I understand my homework. A
10. I try and workout and exercise on a
regular basis. B
I like having gospel discussions,
even outside of church. C
11. I enjoy learning and my classes and
teachers at school. A
I love going to church and feeling
the spirit during all my lessons… {especially Sister Blackburn’s awesome YW
lessons}. C
12. I like going to school sporting
events. Not so much for the games…
Mostly just so I can meet my friends.
D
I enjoy competing in sport activities
and working on improving my athletics.
B
13. I look forward to graduating and
getting my college degree. A
When I go out to eat, I try to be aware of what’s healthy on
the menu while making my decision.
B
14. I love Sundays. I love the spirit I feel when I get
home from church and spend the rest of the day relaxing and keeping the Sabbath
day holy. C
I get excited when I see I got a text
message from a friend. D
15. I feel guilty if I eat too much junk
food. B
I like going to girls camp because of
the spiritual experience. C
16. I always look forward to lunchtime at
school when I can sit and talk with my friends. D
If I finish my homework super early,
I don’t mind getting ahead and working on things for class I don’t need to
worry about until next week. A
NOW
GO THROUGH YOUR QUIZ AGAIN AND COUNT HOW MANY “A, B, C, AND Ds” YOU CIRCLED AND
PLACE THE NUMBER IN BELOW.
A:
__________ B: __________ C: __________ D: __________
Which
letter had your lowest score?
A = MENTAL {KNOWLEDGE}
B = PHYSICAL {HEALTH}
C = SPIRITUAL {SPIRITUAL}
D = SOCIAL {RELATIONSHIPS WITH PEOPLE}
