Each Day is a Day of Decision Elder Nelson

The following post was contributed by Delina Wille of the blog Dew This. I am so grateful to all of the women who have contributed a post about how they have used the teachings of General Conference to teach their children. If there are any more posts out there that you'd like to share, please send me an email. Here's Delina!!

I will admit, the Sunday Afternoon Session is usually the session of conference I fall asleep in (please don't judge) but this year I was ever so glad I stayed awake! Elder Nelson began his talk with the phrase "each day is a day of decision". This really struck me and I felt myself sit up straighter in my seat as he continued.

"The wise use of your freedom to make your own decisions is crucial to your spiritual growth, now and for eternity. You are never too young to learn, never too old to change."

When I heard those words they just echoed in my head- especially about being 'never too young to learn'. I started thinking about all the lessons I have given to children because in my mind they are 'too young' to fully understand or the FHE lessons I had scrimped on feeling justified because my 'boys are just so young'. I felt the call the become better to make the decision then to use my freedom to make those decision crucial to my families spiritual growth.

I used his talk:Decisions for Eternity as I prepared FHE for my boys and we invited a family over to join us that evening!

(This lesson is planned for 3-5 year olds but this talk offers the opportunity to branch out into many different topics and areas that are concerns for your children or teens.)

Opening Song: I am a Child of God

"We are eternal beings—spirit children of heavenly parents. The Bible records that “God created man in his own image, … male and female created he them.” Recently I heard a chorus of children sing the beloved song “I Am a Child of God.” I wondered, “Why haven’t I heard that song rendered more often by singing mothers or faithful fathers?” Are we not all children of God? In truth, not one of us can ever stop being a child of God!"

"Scripture teaches that the body and the spirit are the soul of a man"

Discussion Questions:

What can our body do?

These are the quotes I used for our discussion

"Think of your eyes that see, ears that hear, and fingers that feel all the wondrous things around you. Your brain lets you learn, think, and reason."

"Your body protects itself. Pain comes as a warning that something is wrong and needs attention."

"Your body repairs itself"

Elder Nelson then went on to say "How you use your body affects your spirit. Some of the decisions that will determine your eternal destiny include:

How will you choose to care for and use your body?

What spiritual attributes will you choose to develop?"

What do our spirits do?

These are the quotes I used for our discussion:

"You were chosen NOT for you bodily characteristics but for your SPIRITUAL attributes, such as bravery, courage, integrity of heart, a thirst for truth, a hunger for wisdom, and a desire to serve others. You developed some of these attributes premortally. Others you can develop her on earth as you persistently seek them.

We then discussed that we can strengthen our spirit through family/personal scripture study, family/personal prayer, attending church, FHE, doing service for others, etc.

We also talked about self control-

"A strong human spirit with control over appetites of the flesh is master over emotions and passions and not a slave to them. That kind of freedom is as vital to the spirit as oxygen is to the body. Freedom from self-slavery is true liberation!"

As my boys are young, we talked primarily on anger, frustration, and cooperation.

This part of the lesson allows room to discuss a vairity of topics based on your families personal needs.

What spiritual attributes will you choose to develop?"

Closing Quote:

" Each day is a day of decision, and our decision determine our destiny. We will account for decision that we made about our bodies, our spiritual attributes, and how we honored God's pattern for marriage and family."

Bear Testimony and Close

Activity:

I traced each boy's hands on a sheet of paper. When then labeled one as our body and one as our spirit. (They look the same.)

The boys then wrote and drew pictures to show what good things we can do for our bodies and spirits. (I wanted to used magazine pages but ran out of time)

My 3 year olds artwork

It was fun to hear what each boy remembered and what messages really spoke to them! This was such an amazing talk and it's simplicity yet depth really astounded me! The message really is about the decisions we make for eternity and we make them everyday! I hope that this outline can help your family discover, strengthen and find those decisions and attributes you are making and desire.

I have a testimony that we do have a living prophet with apostles today and these messages are for everyone, young and old. Jesus is the Christ and His gospel is for everyone- we just have to live it!

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Just as a PS to Delina's excellent post: To teach this talk to our children, we plan on focusing on how fasting helps our spirits to have power over our bodies by walking the children through a mini-fast one Sunday afternoon...just to teach them how it is done and prepare them for a time when they will start fasting.

Here are our General Conference Review Lessons for the October 2013 Conference so far:

The Stronger the Wind, The Stronger the Trees - President Monson

Angels to Watch over Us - President Eyring

Come, Join With Us - President Uchtdorf

The Key to Spiritual Protection - President Packer

The Articles of Faith - Elder Perry

Like a Broken Vessel - Elder Holland

Trust in the Lord - Elder Ballard

No Other Gods - Elder Oaks