June 14-20
Doctrine and Covenants 64-66
"The Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind"
Materials: play dough, story from the friend, "Forgiveness" video
Opening Song: "I'll walk with you" (Children's Songbook, 140)
Opening Prayer:
Attention Activity:
Give each member of your family some play dough. Ask them to make a heart shape with their play dough. When they are through, take one the hearts and rip it in half. Sometimes because of the actions of others, our hearts get broken. We get hurt; we feel let down, offended--even betrayed. This is an unfortunate but inevitable side effect of mortality. So what do we do when are hearts get broken? Do we become angry and bitter? Or do we heal? How can we heel our own broken hearts?
Lesson:
Heeling our hearts after someone has wronged us can only be done through forgiveness. What is forgiveness? What does it mean to forgive someone? Have your family take turns reading D&C 64: 7-10. When we forgive, we let go of any anger or bad feelings. We move forward without further blame or grudges. Forgiveness is a divine attribute. Can you think of an example of forgiveness in the scriptures?
Activity: Story about forgiveness in The Friend. Read here.
In the story, Jaide read a story about Jesus forgiving the soldiers who came to arrest him. Christ is the ultimate example of forgiveness. He forgave those who beat him, spit on him, and nailed him to the cross and asked Heavenly Father to "forgive them for they know not what they do."
Joseph Smith was another example of forgiveness. He received D&C 64 after one of his friends, Ezra Booth, left the church and started writing bad things about Joseph in the newspaper. Joseph kept moving forward with the restoration. He would even try to continue to teach people after they would beat him.
How can we be more forgiving of others? Sometimes, we do not always get an apology from the person that hurt us, but we still have to forgive. The atonement of Jesus Christ can help heal the hurt. An important thing to remember about forgiveness is, that the atonement of Christ works for others, the same as it works for us. We may need to remind ourselves that other people can be made clean through the atonement of Christ. If Heavenly Father can promise to "remember their sins no more," certainly we can too.
This does not mean we need to keep getting hurt. If we are in a situation with someone who continues to hurt us emotionally or physically, we can forgive them and still stop associating with them. Forgiveness is not accepting or excusing bad behavior, but deciding that you will not let anger and bitterness towards that person keep you from having charity towards them.
Like Elder Uchtdorf said, we need to stop judging others. We need to let go of bitterness, anger and hate and start forgiving and having charity. Show one of the play dough hearts from the beginning of the lesson. Our hearts can be mended. Sometimes it take time and effort. Sometimes forgiveness is a process--a decision you have to remember to make every day. The end result is a mended heart, a heart full of Christlike love. Bear your testimony of forgiveness.
Closing Song: "Help Me Dear Father" (Children's Songbook, 99)
Closing Prayer:
Refreshment: Salted caramel recipe here
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