I Will Honor My Parents and Strengthen My Family
by Shauna Gibby

I will honor my parents and do my part to strengthen my family.

I will honor my parents and do my part to strengthen my family.

(Faith in God guidebooks, backcover)

Thought:

Honoring your parents by living a good life and by showing them that you love and appreciate them are gifts that last forever. To your earthly mother and father and to your Heavenly Parents, you are their most valuable treasure. Their love and concern for you never ends.

(The First Presidency, “Christmas Message to Children of the Church in All the World,” Friend, Dec 1974, 2-3).

Song:

“Quickly I’ll Obey,” Children’s Songbook, p. 197.

Object Lesson:

Display some glue, tape, and staples and ask what they have in common. (They all hold or bind things together.) Compare this to love in the family. Love is the most important element to strengthen family relationships and hold them together.

(Beth Lefgren and Jennifer Jackson, Building Blocks for Better Lessons, p. 25.)

Story:

“What Have You Done with My Name?”

(George Albert Smith)

A number of years ago I was seriously ill. In fact, I think everyone gave me up but my wife. With my family I went to St. George, Utah, it see if it would improve my health. We went as far as we could by train, and then continued the journey in a wagon, in the bottom of which a bed had been made for me.

In St. George we arranged for a tent for my health and comfort, with a built-in floor raised about a foot above the group, so we could roll up the south side of the tent to make the sunshine and fresh air available. I became so weak as to be scarcely able to move. It was a slow and exhausting effort for me even to turn over in bed.

One day, under these conditions, I lost consciousness of my surroundings and thought I had passed to the Other Side. I found myself standing with my back to a large and beautiful lake, facing a great forest of trees. There was no one in sight, and there was no boat upon the lake or any other visible means to indicate how I might have arrived there. I realized, or seemed to realize, that I had finished my work in mortality and had gone home. I began to look around, to see if I could not find someone. There was no evidence of anyone living there, just those great, beautiful trees in front of me and the wonderful lake behind me.

I began to explore, and soon I found a trail through the woods which seemed to have been used very little, and which was almost obscured by grass. I followed this trail, and after I had walked for some time and had traveled a considerable distance through the forest, I saw a man coming towards me. I became aware that he was a very large man, and I hurried my steps to reach him, because I recognized him as my grandfather [George A. Smith]. In mortality he weighed over three hundred pounds. I had been given his name and had always been proud of it.

When Grandfather came within a few feet of me, he stopped. His stopping was an invitation for me to stop. Then . . . he looked at me very earnestly and said:

“I would like to know what you have done with my name.”

Everything I had ever done passed before me as though it were a flying picture on a screen—everything I had done. Quickly this vivid retrospect came down to the very time I was standing there. My whole life had passed before me. I smiled and looked at my grandfather and said:

“I have never done anything with your name of which you need be ashamed.”

He stepped forward and took me in his arms, and as he did so, I became conscious again of my earthly surroundings. My pillow was as wet as though water had been poured on it—wet with tears of gratitude that I could answer unashamed.

I have thought of this many times, and I want to tell you that I have been trying, more than ever since that time, to take care of that name. So I want to say . . . : Honor your fathers and your mothers. Honor the names that you bear, because some day you will have the privilege and the obligation of reporting to them (and to your Father in heaven) what you have done with their name.

(George Albert Smith, Sharing the Gospel with Others, selected and compiled by Preston Nibley (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1948) pp. 111-12.)

Activity:

Play “Sideways Centipede.”

Have the family line up side by side. Tie each person’s legs to the legs of the people on both sides of them at their knees with rags or short pieces of rope. The father calls out direction and the entire family runs to a goal and back.

Explain that our parents can help us know which way to go and that when we follow their counsel, and if the family works together, it is easier to get to the goal.

(adapted from George and Jeane Chipman, Games! Games! Games!, [Salt Lake City: Shadow Mountain, 1983], p. 211.)

Refreshment

Granola

4 cups quick Quaker® oats

¾ cup packed brown sugar

½ cup flaked coconut

½ cup sliced almonds

½ cup pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped

¼ cup water

¼ cup vegetable or olive oil

¼ cup honey

¼ cup peanut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

In a large bowl, mix together oats, brown sugar, coconut, almonds, and pecans or walnuts; set aside. In a saucepan, stir together water, oil, honey, and peanut butter; bring to a boil. Remove from heat; add vanilla and stir honey mixture into oats mixture. Spread on a large greased baking sheet. Bake at 325 degrees for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Makes about 2 pounds.

(Julie Badger Jensen, Essential Mormon Celebrations, [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2005], p. 93.)