Everyday object lessons

Start outside when the sun is very bright.  Tell students to stand so they are receiving the most and brightest sun available.  Then everyone moves to a spot that is not so bright, but that you can clearly see the sun is still shining – maybe in the shade of a tree.  Next move indoors but to a room with a window so you can still have the effects of the sunlight but less.  Finally move to a closet or room where it can be entirely dark.  If it is a warm time of year you know the sun is still shining because the building is still warm inside even tho you are in the dark.

This lesson has several applications.  Here are the ones my family came up with:  God’s love represents the sun.

It is our actions that take us out of the light.  God’s love is always there and always the same and always available.  My actions make it so I feel God’s love less.  I move, not God.

We started out in the light.  That is where we all came from – God’s presence.  We should ask for confirmation of this truth and then remember that light and God’s love when we are feeling discouraged and in the dark.

Elaborating on a story by Wayne Dyer.

Have the class, or your family stand up with the goal of jumping as high as they can. Maybe have a goal on the wall or doorway or something to measure how high to jump. In the first situation, no one can bend their knees before they jump – not even a little! So basically you can only go on your tiptoes. You just can’t propel yourself into their air without bending your knees first.

Next have them bend their knees just a little bit and jump again and notice how much higher they can jump then finally allow the students to jump as high as they possibly can and bend as much as they desire.

Point out to them that the only way to reach and jump high is to bend low first. So when we are brought low with trials or difficulties we must remember that it takes that bending low to propel us higher. If we are brought low with trials, then we can build sufficient faith and trust in God so he can lift us to a higher spiritual place. There are many stories in the scriptures then that can illustrate this story. Have this lesson go along with whatever book of scripture you are working with.

This is specifically how I will teach my 8-11 yr old boys the story of the temptations of Jesus and other concepts about temptation. You can change the lesson to fit your circumstances. My objective for this lesson is to cover some simple concepts
1) Temptation is influence of Satan to choose the wrong behavior. We have the age (over eight) and mental ability (not handicapped) to know right from wrong and are accountable. It is a battle within our heart and mind of whether to choose Satan or choose God.
2) When we choose Satan we choose darkness for our spirit, when we choose God, we choose light and companionship of the Holy Ghost.
3) Tell the simple JST translation story of Jesus’ temptation after the 40 day fast
4) Repeat the scripture many times: get thee behind me Satan

Here’s how I want to do that
On the flannel board have 3 scenes, each one of the 3 different temptations of Jesus. On the wall or door or board have the word temptation and then a line leading to a picture of the Savior and another line with nothing on the end.

Our classroom can go entirely dark, so each boy will have a flashlight to shine on the flannel story or board.

1. Hand out the flashlights very soon after walking in. Give instructions that they are to shine the flashlight on the item that I tell them, or they lose the flashlight and if they flash in someone else’s face, they lose their light. I will probably give them a second chance after awhile, but I’m not going to tell them that! Turn off the lights and ask them to check that the light works. Tell them we have a very special, fun lesson where we get to use the flashlights in the dark, so lets get thru the other things quickly so we have lots of time to use the flashlights.

2. Cover any announcements and other things as needed.

3) Turn off the lights. Shine on the word temptation and discuss the simple definition. When we talk about the battle going on in our heart and mind, then they get to go wild with the light all over the room and we when we say, Get thee behind me Satan, then all the lights shine on the pix of the Savior. One time we will illustrate that choosing Satan’s influence leaves our spirit in darkness and everyone will turn off their light.

4) Have someone read the stories of the temptations of Christ – the Joseph Smith Translation gives a better detail so I will use that. As we get to each one the boys can shine the lights on the flannel board.

5) Reinforce the idea that thru our whole life we will have temptations. Satan will influence us to behave different than we know is right. We must do as Jesus taught us and say to ourselves, Get thee behind me Satan and then have courage and choose God. Use the lights on the words and pix on the board.

6) Find one or two stories that give illustration of temptation and how the choice brought the person more light. And then do step 5 again. Maybe there is a primary song we can sing that goes with this too.

Idea from a speech by Sheri Rose Shepherd
For the object, get a sharp knife and hold it up from the sharp end as you give the story You know how toddlers are very curious and they ask lots of questions and they want to touch and get into everything because they are learning about everything in life.

Imagine if you had a toddler exploring around in the kitchen and you find your toddler holding onto a very sharp knife by the sharp end. Your heart leaps and you know you need to act quickly but carefully so the child doesn’t injure himself. The worst thing would be to scream and yell and grab the knife away. What you would probably do is to speak very softly and request the child give you the knife and maybe use something else to distract the child until you can safely remove it from view.

This is how God works with us in our school of learning called life. Many times we are like toddlers and getting into all sorts of things that could cause us great injury and harm. God calls us with a still small voice and gently seeks to persuade us to leave those things alone.

Add to this beginning any scriptures or more elaboration on the story so it fits with your lesson

From a story told by Dr. Adrian Rogers
Dr Adrian Rogers gave a Focus on the Family devotional and this story is from that devotional. It would be really great to actually DO the object lesson that Dr Rogers tells, but that might be difficult to arrange. Here’s the story: A minister was giving a sermon that was several hours long. There was a small break for the audience to get up and walk around at bit. The minister knew many of the people in the audience and he went down to talk to some of the people at the front. He was talking to a man whose wife had left the room for a few minutes. The minister asked the husband if that was his wife’s bible, and asked if he could look at it. The minister took the bible and put a $5 bill inside then told the husband that in a few minutes he would be asking for a volunteer and he would call on the wife. The husband was to make sure the wife brought up her bible, but not to tell her that she was going to be chosen. So the sermon got started again and after a few minutes the minister asked for a volunteer from the audience and then pointed out the wife and asked her to come forward. The husband told her to bring her bible because she might need it. The minister then says, “Do you believe I am a man of God?”
“Yes”
“Do you know me as a friend and trust me?”
“yes”
“Do you think that I would lie to you?”
“No, of course not”
“If I gave you a very simple task, that you could accomplish right up here with me, would you do it?”
“sure”
“OK. Give me $5″
The wife looks at him strangely and gives a questioning gesture. “Just let me go get my purse.”
“But I said you could do this simple task right up here. Don’t you trust me? Would I lie to you?”
“But I don’t have $5″
This conversation goes on for a few more lines and then the minister asks the wife to give him the bible. He opens it and shows her the $5 bill. She says, “How did that get in there?”
“I put it there.”
That is basically the story, and then you can go on to sight some scriptures that show us that God will never give us a task that he has not already given us the talents and ability to accomplish. We may not see them at first, but he has put them there and we must ask for his help and strength in doing his will. There are many scriptures that would fit this description.

From Angela Spencer
A Story out of the Friend called Bag of Rocks. This boy named Malcolm collected rocks everytime someone or something made him mad. I brought a bunch of rocks and made a boy stand in front of the room and as I read the story, we loaded him down with rocks, adding suspenders, a coat with many pockets and a backpack. We then discussed at the close of the story, how to unburden ourselves from bad feelings we harbor for others. We took rocks out at every suggestion and this kept the kids completely entertained!!!!

From Angela Spencer
I taught the children the subject “Jesus Christ is my Example” by using 2 object lessons. I first displayed 2 exact plants planted in 2 different containers. One container was beautiful and the plant looked wonderful. The other container was chipped and awful looking and the plant appeared less desirable. I then had the children choose which plant they liked best. Of course, they chose the plant in the nice pot. I then read a story from the Friend called Tin Pot. It told of a boy with disabilities and how his friend Annie learned an important lesson from her Mom concerning how things can look so different on the outside, but still be the same inside. We then, discussed examples Christ did while on the earth to make everyone feel of their Father in Heaven’s love and how the kids could use his examples today.

There was a man who was asleep one night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light and the Savior appeared. The Lord told him he had a work for him to do, and showed him a large rock, explaining that he was to push against the rock with all his might. This the man did, and for many days he toiled from sunup tp sundown; his shoulder set squarely against the cold massive surface of the rock, pushing with all his might. Each night the man returned to the cabin sore and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.

Seeing that the man was showing signs of discouragement, Satan decided to enter the picture – placing thoughts in the man’s mind, such as -Why kill yourself over this, you’re never going to move it. or, Boy, you’ve been at it a long time and you haven’t even scratched the surface, etc. Giving the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was an unworthy servant because he wasn’t moving the massive stone. These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man and he started to ease up in his efforts.

Why kill myself? he thought, I’ll just put in my time, putting forth just the minimum of effort and that will be good enough. And that he did, or at least planned on doing until one day he decided to take his troubles to the Lord. Lord, he said, I have labored hard and long in your service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked me. Yet, after all this time, I have not even budged that rock half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?

To this the Lord responded compassionately, My friend,…when long ago I asked you to serve me and you accepted, I told you to push against the rock with all your strength, and you have done that. But never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it, at least not by yourself. You task was to push and now you come to me, your strength spent, thinking that you have failed and are ready to quit.

But is that really so? Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, you back sinewed and brown. Your hands are callused from constant pressure and your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition, you have grown much and your ability now far surpasses that which you used to have. Yet still, you haven’t succeeded in moving the rock; and you come to me now with a heavy heart and your strength spent.

I, my friend, will move the rock. Your calling was to be obedient and to push, and to exercise your faith and trust in my wisdom…and THIS YOU HAVE DONE.

When I was a little boy, my mother used to embroider a great deal. I would sit at her knee and look up from the floor and ask what she was doing. She informed me that she was embroidering. I told her that it looked like a mess from where I was. As from the underside I watched her work within the boundaries of the little round hoop that she held in her hand, I complained to her that it sure looked messy from where I sat. She would smile at me, look down and gently say, “My son, you go about your playing for awhile, and when I am finished with my embroidering, I will put you on my knee and let you see it from my side.”

I would wonder why she was using some dark threads along with the bright ones and why they seemed so jumbled from my view. A few minutes would pass and then I would hear Mother’s voice say, “Son, come and sit on my knee.” This I did only to be surprised and thrilled to see a beautiful flower or a sunset. I could not believe it, because from underneath it looked so messy. Then Mother would say to me, “My son, from underneath it did look messy and jumbled, but you did not realize that there was a pre-drawn plan on the top. It was a design. I was only following it. Now look at it from my side and you will see what I was doing.”

Many times through the years I have looked up to my Heavenly Father and said, “Father, what are You doing?” He has answered, “I am embroidering your life.” I say, “But it looks like a mess to me. It seems so jumbled. The threads seem so dark. Why can’t they all be bright?” The Father seems to tell me, “‘My child, you go about your business of doing My business, and one day I will bring you to Heaven and put you on My knee and you will see the plan from My side.” Author Unknown

What would you do if you were walking down the sidewalk in your neighborhood and you see a friend working in his yard and he runs up to you and has an armful of gooey mud that he wants to give you? Do you move closer and hold out your arms and accept all that mud? Yuck! Or do you say, “No, thanks. I don’t want that mud.” And keep on walking? The mud is like gossip or angry words or sarcasm or cutting remarks or criticism. People who dish this mud out of their mouths are wanting to give it to you. Do you have to take it? Or can you refuse? Of course, you have the choice to refuse. You don’t have to take offense, or get angry. You can choose to not let the other person’s angry words rub off on you.