We do Family Home Evening whenever our schedule allows us. We most often do it on my husband’s day off, and with his work shift changing periodically, sometimes we’ll meet together on Sunday, or Tuesday, or Friday – just whenever we can work it in peacefully. We had our Family Home Evening this afternoon, strangely enough, and we found it one of the sweetest we’ve ever had. I’d like to share the highlights with you, if I may.
My daughter is working on her Faith in God award and one of the suggested goals is to give a Family Home Evening about the Prophet Joseph Smith and the First Vision. Our six-year-old conducted, and chose for the opening song, “The Wheels on the Bus.” Not necessarily a gospel-oriented song, but it is when I make up the words.
The people on the bus are going to church all through the town . . .
The children on the bus are singing songs . . .
They’re going to learn about Joseph Smith . . .
Everyone learns to share and play . . .
It goes on from there and gets a little goofy, but hey, the kids get their way and so do I.
Then my daughter taught the lesson, and a sweet spirit filled the room as we listened to our eleven-year-old speak with wisdom far beyond her years as she related the story of the young boy who went into the woods to pray and saw the Father and the Son. She even told us about the translation of the Book and how it was transported in a barrel of beans – I think she would have given us the entire history of the Church if we’d let her.
Then my six-year-old chose “An Angel Came to Joseph Smith” as the closing song. My husband and I don’t know that song (we’re old fogies when it comes to Primary songs) so we sat and listened to our three older children as they sang. We looked at each other while we listened, tears in our eyes as we recognized the Spirit in the room and felt so full of gratitude that our children are learning the principles of the gospel and taking them into their own hearts.
I know why we’ve been asked to hold Family Home Evening. The outcome isn’t always like this – we usually end up having to sit on half of the juvenile population of our house just to get through a thirty-second lesson. But every so often, you hit on a winning night like tonight, and it fills you up and spills over.
Be sure to check Families.com often for great family home evening ideas, some of which are:
Family Home Evening for Toddlers
Family Home Evening: Music and Dancing
Family Home Evening: Gratitude