I was sitting in a meeting a while ago when my mind started to wander and I found myself thinking about Family Home Evening. I firmly believe that Family Home Evening is an inspired program of the Church, however it is something that I have been struggling with. With our schedules it seems that it is always late when we get started so we rush through it, or we have so much to do that we count our errands like running to Walmart or Target. I always told myself at least we are doing it right? But it always seems that as soon as we start our Family Night, the kids start to fight, or get rowdy, or I lose my patience, or someone calls, or something goes wrong so that when the night is over I regret even trying. I almost always think, boy those are just "blessings I could do without." I felt bad though because I firmly believe that there are blessings in store for families that do FHE. So as I sat in my meeting pondering on this topic the spirit whispered a thought to me, and it was simply "FHE is like a seed."
As I thought about this concept I could visualize myself planting a seed. I am not a natural green thumb, so most of the time my plants die, even my kids "faith is like a seed" seeds never sprout. But I have seen some beautiful gardens, so I know it can be done. I started thinking that people with beautiful gardens take a lot of time to prepare them. They know which plants will grow during each season, how much water to give them, how much sun etc. I on the other hand know nothing, have not done research and spent very little time cultivating my plants. Now, If I put a seed in a pot and cover it with dirt and set it outside, it might grow. Just like with FHE. If you just do it, you will receive blessings as promised. However, I think that if I did a little more preparation, a little more research and plan my FHE better, a more beautiful flower will grow, and more blessings will present themselves. I hope that in the future, I can truly set the time apart to have a real FHE, with a sit down lesson, instead of yelling back a quick story to whomever can hear me in the car.
Does anyone have any good ideas along this line, have you tried taking more prep time for your FHE's? Does it work? Is it really possible to have FHE without the fighting and bickering? I would love to know what you think.
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Ken and I also are not valiant in our FHE efforts. We know with Abraham it is important to get started and put in the habit. Ken and I are both in the youth program, so we have started reading from the Joseph Smith manual for our FHE lessons, since we miss those lessons. Then we get a free redbox movie and watch that when Abe goes to bed. It isn't a lot, but at least it is a start.
I too have always struggled to get FHE. We are definitely not consistent (although we always keep trying). I have found that my kids love to have the lesson as a powerpoint. Even J gets in the fray. Also, this year we picked a theme. Every month our lessons center around one of the articles of faith. Gor example, in Feb. We learned about the 2nd article of faith in one lesson and the creation in another. I find that my biggest stumbling block is that due to my husbands schedule, it is impossible to do FHE the same night every week and that makes it harder for me to make sure that it gets done. I am thinking it is time I do it the same every week and he joins in when he can. I don't know if that is the right way, but I think I am going to give it a try.
I agree that it really comes down to planning. How much time do we really think about what we will do for FHE? It seems like a "oh it is Monday? 7:00?!?!? Quick, it's time for FHE" (That is me, Andrea is a lot more prepared when it is her turn to plan). I guess I need to put more thought and prayer into it. There is plenty of things we can do, just need to find them.
Charlotte- I would think that doing it the same day would probably help with the consistancy level for your FHE's, but I don't know about the fact that their Dad wont be there, that is a hard choice, guess that to comes down to something to pray about.
My best memories of FHE were the activities we did as a family. I couldn't tell you any of the lessons that were taught (though I'm sure they impacted me some way). Its more just about spending time together as a family then it is about getting a lesson across. The other thing I remember the most was having us do the lesson, activity, desert ourselves (the little house that had our names on what we were supposed to do). If you aren't having your kids do those things, maybe you should do that. I know it will most likely be you doing a bunch of the work anyway, but they will feel more a part of FHE that way.
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