I ran out of time this week to scan in the family home evening lesson I wanted to share. As I was looking through the files of our Family Home Evening Swap group I came upon this lesson that we did about a month ago. It was put together by Mindy Zeigler. The file had everything already included, even the graphics! This was my easy way out this week. 🙂 Total credit goes to Mindy for this lesson.

This past swap all the lessons were based on General Conference talks from October 2007. This lesson is based on the talk by Donald L. Hallstrom, “Do It Now,” Ensign, Nov 2007 49-51. It’s a great one for learning about procrastination which can also lead into discussing school assignments and getting them done on time now that school has started around the country.

Download the file here:

Do it NOW! FHE pdf

Here’s part of the lesson outline so you know what you are getting.

Preparation: Place the ice cream scoops in a bag or hide them throughout the room.

Objective:To get the family to realize the importance of working on their spiritual progression NOW!Opening Song:Keep the Commandments (CS 146)
Opening Prayer:
Lesson:
Story: Relate the following story to your familyDonald L. Hallstrom, “Do It Now,” Ensign, Nov 2007 49-51

“When our oldest child (who is now a father of three and sits in this priesthood congregation this evening) was 11 years of age, he was given an assignment, along with the other sixth graders of his school, to submit his favorite family recipe. As its contribution to a large spring fair, the sixth grade was producing a cookbook that would be distributed throughout the community. When the teacher announced the project and a deadline of a week from Friday, our son Brett immediately concluded there was plenty of time later to get the job done and dismissed it from his mind. Early the next week, when the teacher reminded the students of the Friday deadline, Brett decided he could easily complete the required task on Thursday night and until then he could occupy himself with other more enjoyable matters.

On the appointed Friday morning, the teacher directed the students to pass their recipes to the front of the class. Brett’s procrastination had caused him to forget the assignment and be completely unprepared. Flustered, he turned to a fellow student seated nearby and confessed his problem. Trying to be helpful, the classmate said, “I brought an extra recipe. If you want, use one of mine.” Brett quickly grabbed the recipe, wrote his name on it, and turned it in, feeling he had escaped any consequences related to his lack of preparation.

One evening several weeks later, I arrived home from work to freshen up before going to my evening Church meetings. A few days prior, I had been called as a stake president after serving several years as a bishop. We were somewhat known in our community as members of the Church who tried to live the tenets of our religion. “There’s something you need to see,” my wife, Diane, said as I walked through the door. She handed me a bound book with a page marked. Glancing at the cover, titled Noelani School’s Favorites—1985, I turned to the identified page and read, “Hallstrom Family, Favorite Recipe—Bacardi Rum Cake.”

Discussion:

—Discuss with your family what procrastination means and what the consequences were for Brett’s procrastination.

—Discuss how we often procrastinate commandments and things we should be doing to live the gospel fully.

—What are some commandments we procrastinate doing? (reading scriptures, prayer, holding family home evening, etc.)

—What are some reasons we put off doing those things? (homework, sports and activities, tv, fear, lack of faith, etc)

—What can the consequences be for procrastinating our spiritual progression? (not learning more, putting off spiritual blessings, not having the spirit to guide us, etc.)