Today was my RS lesson, and you should probably just read the talk by Elder Bednar. It was really good.
I started out by talking about fear and writing the word FEAR big on the chalkboard. I talked about the emotions from the movie Inside Out and how Fear as a character was just a mess, but completely engaging because it is an emotion we all have really memorable experiences with. I recalled for them the time when Wyatt was about two and I lost him in Costco. He was there one second and then gone the next. As the girls and I started rushing down the aisles yelling his name, the panic started to rise in my chest and throat, and I envisioned Amber Alerts and bad guys coming and just throwing my beautiful little boy in the back of a paneled van. By the time we found a Costco employee coming our way holding Wyatt's little hand, I was practically in tears, and she hugged me to help calm my racing heart. I asked for the ladies to share some of their real fears, and they very willingly helped me fill the chalkboard with all sorts of terrible things besides losing a child: death, failure, what others think, commitment, loneliness, physical harm or illness, and many more. (They were really good at that!)
Then I told them that Elder Bednar's talk was "to describe how fear is dispelled through a correct knowledge of and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ." I put a big picture of Christ over the word FEAR and then assigned groups to collaborate to teach mini lessons about these things:
-Looking to Christ: Peter walking to Christ on the water and Christ calming the sea
-Building on the Foundation of Christ: Helaman 5:12
-The atonement
-The resurrection
-"I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me".
I let them discuss for as long as I dared, because I felt like their small discussions were really the main part of the lesson. Then we had someone from each group summarize and I put more pictures of Christ over the fear words, and erased some of the words as the lessons on the atonement and resurrection were given.
After that I shared two scriptures:
2 Ne 9:41 O then, my beloved brethren, come unto the Lord, the Holy One. Remember that his paths are righteous. Behold, the way for man is narrow, but it lieth in a straight course before him, and the keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel; and he employeth no servant there; and there is none other way save it be by the gate; for he cannot be deceived, for the Lord God is his name.
and
Doctrine and Covenants 6:36 Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.
Then I bore my testimony that looking to Christ would bring safety and peace and dispel our fears.
I started out by talking about fear and writing the word FEAR big on the chalkboard. I talked about the emotions from the movie Inside Out and how Fear as a character was just a mess, but completely engaging because it is an emotion we all have really memorable experiences with. I recalled for them the time when Wyatt was about two and I lost him in Costco. He was there one second and then gone the next. As the girls and I started rushing down the aisles yelling his name, the panic started to rise in my chest and throat, and I envisioned Amber Alerts and bad guys coming and just throwing my beautiful little boy in the back of a paneled van. By the time we found a Costco employee coming our way holding Wyatt's little hand, I was practically in tears, and she hugged me to help calm my racing heart. I asked for the ladies to share some of their real fears, and they very willingly helped me fill the chalkboard with all sorts of terrible things besides losing a child: death, failure, what others think, commitment, loneliness, physical harm or illness, and many more. (They were really good at that!)
Then I told them that Elder Bednar's talk was "to describe how fear is dispelled through a correct knowledge of and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ." I put a big picture of Christ over the word FEAR and then assigned groups to collaborate to teach mini lessons about these things:
-Looking to Christ: Peter walking to Christ on the water and Christ calming the sea
-Building on the Foundation of Christ: Helaman 5:12
-The atonement
-The resurrection
-"I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me".
I let them discuss for as long as I dared, because I felt like their small discussions were really the main part of the lesson. Then we had someone from each group summarize and I put more pictures of Christ over the fear words, and erased some of the words as the lessons on the atonement and resurrection were given.
After that I shared two scriptures:
2 Ne 9:41 O then, my beloved brethren, come unto the Lord, the Holy One. Remember that his paths are righteous. Behold, the way for man is narrow, but it lieth in a straight course before him, and the keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel; and he employeth no servant there; and there is none other way save it be by the gate; for he cannot be deceived, for the Lord God is his name.
and
Doctrine and Covenants 6:36 Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.
Then I bore my testimony that looking to Christ would bring safety and peace and dispel our fears.
You do such a good job at teaching powerful lessons, and this was another really good one!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great lesson. Our speakers in church today talked about overcoming fears. It was amazing. I had never heard my friend, Elisa talk so openly about her fear of raising her two children alone (her husband has serious respiratory issues.)
ReplyDeleteThe other thing your lesson made me think about was a part of that book I was reading, The Robe. Two of the characters were on a small boat rowing in the Mediterranean. The girl asks Demetrius what Christ will do if a storm arises on the sea. He replies that, "he has been known to help his friends tossed in the storm." It has really stuck with me.
I read that book, The Robe. Excellent work.
ReplyDeleteThis lesson was visual and visceral and amazing. To cover up fears with pictures of Christ was a stroke of genius. I really need to show my beliefs online more. You have a lot of courage. Nice going.