Happiness, Your Heritage

FHE Lesson by Annalisa H.

Preparation: Make blowing bubbles. What You Need: Large Cup, 1/2 cup Dish soap, 1 1/2 cups Water, 2 teaspoons Sugar. Here's How: Get out a large cup. Pour 1/2 cup dish soap into the cup. Add 1 1/2 cups water to the cup. Measure 2 teaspoons of sugar into the water/soap mixture. Gently stir your mixture. Time Required: 15 mins. Objective: To help family members learn ways to have eternal happiness and recognize the ways to enjoy now. The lesson discusses seeking eternal verses worldly happiness, and how to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord allowing each to inherit eternal happiness. Scriptures: (1) Proclamation Paragraph 7 “Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ.” (2) Doctrine and Covenants 6:20 “Be faithful and diligent in keeping the commandments of God, and I will encircle thee in the arms of my love.” Opening Song Options: I am like a Star—CS # 163, Choose the Right Way—CS # 160 Opening Prayer Object Lesson: Explain that blowing bubbles is lots of fun. Blow the bubbles carefully (outside, if necessary) and let the family chase after them, have fun popping bubbles for 2-3 minutes. Then, begin to talk about how people chase after happiness in the world. When someone pops a bubble, have them share something that makes them happy, anything goes. Money, Food, Entertainment, Popularity, Cars, Family, et al. (Proceed to “Discussion”). Discussion: See “Discussion” section of lesson Stories: Younger Children: (A) Larry W. Gibbons, “Two Secrets to Happiness,” Friend, Feb 2009, 8–9 and/or (B) Story about Sharing from Primary 2: Choose the Right A, 139 Older Children: (C) Mary Ellen Smoot, “We Are Creators,” Ensign, May 2000, 64 and/or (D)Power of Compassion “Sweetwater Story” from talk by Henry B. Eyring in Liahona and/or (E) Lori Boyer, “Compassionate Service: with or without the Casserole,” Ensign, Jan 1985, 68

Activity/Game: “Through the things you create and by your compassionate service, you are a great power for good.”—Dieter F. Uchtdorf Closing Song: Have I done any good? –Hymn # 223 Closing Prayer

Discussion:

We have all enjoyed popping bubbles. Recall what makes them happy (Family, Juice, Candy, Money, Cars, Hobbies, Games et al.) Reiterate that there is a difference between God’s happiness and worldly happiness, that having hobbies, money, cars are good. Mention that toys break, candy builds cavities if you don’t brush your teeth, worldly happiness only lasts a moment and doesn’t last. Eternal happiness will last forever and never pops. The Lord said in Moses 1:39 (found in the Pearl of Great Price) “For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” When people try to find a bubble of worldly happiness eventually it will pop and go away. Eternal happiness builds our testimony and is found when “Heavenly Father is able to accomplish two great goals—the immortality and eternal life of man—because He is a God of creation and compassion. Creating and being compassionate are two objectives that contribute to our Heavenly Father’s perfect happiness. Creating and being compassionate are two activities that we as His spirit children can and should emulate.” – Dieter F. Uchtdorf

To seek and experience eternal happiness we can participate in two activities now while on the earth that will allow us to feel and enjoy eternal happiness now (1) creation and (2) compassion.

(1) CREATION ---What can you create? Mothers create bodies for children. Fathers create work and financial support for families. Grandparents create family reunions, journals and memories. You can create something new for someone else. “Creation means bringing into existence something that did not exist before—colorful gardens, harmonious homes, family memories, flowing laughter…. If you still feel incapable of creating, start small. Try to see how many smiles you can create, write a letter of appreciation, learn a new skill, identify a space and beautify it.”–Dieter F. Uchtdorf. Excerpt Story--- President Brigham Young spoke to the Saints of his day. “There is a great work for the Saints to do,” he said. “Progress, and improve upon and make beautiful everything around you. Cultivate the earth, and cultivate your minds. Build cities, adorn your habitations, make gardens, orchards, and vineyards, and render the earth so pleasant that when you look upon your labors you may do so with pleasure, and that angels may delight to come and visit your beautiful locations. In the mean time continually seek to adorn your minds with all the graces of the Spirit of Christ. The more you trust and rely upon the Spirit, the greater your capacity to create.”

(2) COMPASSION---How can you be compassionate (doing good for someone)? “When we reach out to bless the lives of others, our lives are blessed as well. Service and sacrifice open the windows of heaven, allowing choice blessings to descend upon us.” –Dieter F. Uchtdorf. “Joy and happiness come from living the way the Lord wants you to live and from service to God and others. …You have a heritage: Honor it.”—President Thomas S. Monson. Excerpt Story--- President Lorenzo Snow expressed: “When you find yourselves a little gloomy, look around you and find somebody that is in a worse plight than yourself; go to him and find out what the trouble is, then try to remove it with the wisdom which the Lord bestows upon you; and the first thing you know, your gloom is gone, you feel light, the Spirit of the Lord is upon you, and everything seems illuminated.”

** At this point in the lesson, share a personal experience you have had with seeking and experience eternal happiness. Encourage family members to share any experiences they have had with eternal happiness by sharing, showing compassion, creating something.

Challenge each family member to watch for times throughout the week to seek and experience eternal happiness.

Resource: Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Happiness, Your Heritage,” Liahona, Nov 2008, 117–20

Activity/Game: “Through the things you create and by your compassionate service, you are a great power for good.”—Dieter F. Uchtdorf

(1) Create

Purpose: “The more you trust and rely upon the Spirit, the greater your capacity to create.”—Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Equipment: large area preferably with soft ground for falling, e.g, grass, carpet.

Time: ~10 mins per person in group

Brief description: In pairs, one person is blindfolded. Holding hands, the blindfolded person is lead gradually from a slow walk up to fast running. Swap.

Running Free by James Neill

• Find a large, flat area with soft ground, e.g., grass, carpeted living room

• Make sure family is warmed up, stretched and ready for running

• Invite family members to find a partner

• Hand out one blindfold per pair

• One person puts the blind fold on and holds hands with participant

• Ask the seeing person to take their partner on a: o slow walk (~a couple of minutes) o a normal-paced walk (~1 minute) o a fast walk (~30 secs) o a jog (~30 secs) o a run (~15 secs) o a fast run (~15 secs)

• Allow time to relax, swap over, and then take them through the same sequence

(2) Compassionate Service

Purpose: “Surely our beloved Heavenly Father smiles upon those who care for the least of His children.”—Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Equipment: Yourself.

Time: ~10 mins.

Brief description: Do something nice for someone else. Think carefully and decide something special that you can do for someone in your family. Set a time, and begin that project. Pick up laundry, put away dishes, do something for someone in your family and report back to the rest on what you did and how you felt.

Challenge: Carefully, write down something you are going to do for someone during the week. Visit a family friend in the hospital, write a letter of appreciation. Then, throughout the week fulfill that compassionate service. Report at next FHE your deeds.

Story (A) Two Secrets to Happiness

Happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee (Psalm 128:2).

When I was younger, I never liked fish much. Then I moved to Boston, Massachusetts. People said, “You’ll love the fish in Boston. You have to try Boston scrod.” It doesn’t sound good, does it? Scrod is a young cod. I tried it—and I loved it. It’s the best thing I’ve ever eaten!

It’s the same way with work. I think one of the most important things to learn is how to work hard. Ask your parents for a hard chore you can do. If you try it, I promise you’ll like it.

My mother taught me to work hard. She asked me to get the work done first and then go play. One day a few of us helped my mom move a piano from upstairs to downstairs. It was a big, old piano. It wasn’t easy to move. We moved it around corners and finally down the stairs. When we set it down, my mother was glowing with happiness—just because we’d moved a piano! I said, “Mom, I think you would rather move a piano than listen to a piano.” She nodded. She loved to work.

Learn to enjoy work. When you get an assignment, do your very best. Ask your parents, “What can I do to help?” If you try it, you’ll like it. A man once told me, “You never work for anyone else.” He meant that we are the ones who benefit from working because it gives us a good feeling. You will be happier as you learn to work.

Another way to be happy is to learn self-control. When I was younger, I loved to play basketball. But I did not have good sportsmanship. Winning was everything to me. Whenever someone fouled me, I would get angry.

Then I learned that basketball is only a game. I decided to change. One day, someone elbowed me in the chest on purpose. He pushed me hard. In the past, I would have gotten angry, but this time I walked away without saying anything. I had the best feeling. I knew that I had learned to control myself. It felt better than winning!

Work hard, be a good sport, and learn self-control. As you do, you will be happier.

Resource: Larry W. Gibbons, “Two Secrets to Happiness,” Friend, Feb 2009, 8–9, From an interview with Elder Larry W. Gibbons of the Seventy; by Kimberly Reid.

Story (B)

Story about Sharing

Tell a story about a child who was happy and made others happy because he or she shared. You may want to use the following story:

David had a new box of crayons and was coloring a beautiful picture when his mother brought his little sister into the room. Mother asked David to share his crayons with Allison and help her color. David did not want to share. Allison did not color very well, and he was afraid she might break one of his crayons. He gave her a color he did not like very much.

Soon David needed the crayon he had given to Allison, so he tried to take it back. Allison started to cry. David felt bad for making his sister cry, and he realized that she liked to color too, even if she didn’t do it very well yet. David looked at his crayons and decided there were plenty for both of them to use. He let Allison pick a color, and she colored happily on her piece of paper. David was happy too.

• Why was Allison happy? • Why was David happy?

Resource: “Lesson 27: I Can Help Others Be Happy by Sharing,” Primary 2: Choose the Right A, 139

Story (C) We Are Creators

Create homes filled with love and serenity. Relieve suffering. Create enduring testimonies of eternal truths in ourselves and others.

Recently, I visited with the family of a young mother who died while giving birth to her fifth child. I expected anguish but found hope and determination. Her husband cherished the time they had together. Their children understood the plan of salvation and knew they could be with their mother again, forever. She had never been too busy for those most dear to her. At her young age, this sister had served as a Relief Society president, always putting her marriage and family first.

As I visited with the mother of the deceased woman, she remarked that her highest priority was to raise her daughters to be righteous women. Even though her daughter’s life was cut short, this daughter created a tapestry of righteous gospel living in her home.

Together your general Relief Society presidency, under the direction of our priesthood leaders, created a declaration for our Relief Society sisters around the world. The declaration reminds us who we are, and Home, Family, and Personal Enrichment night has been set aside to develop these skills.

Do we recognize in our own lives the opportunities for creation that are there? Do we prize the gifts, talent, and choice spirits that God has given us? Do we share the creations of our hearts, minds, and hands with others?

Another mother and counselor in a stake Relief Society, though tremendous health problems threatened her, created a remarkable service project in her stake. Through fasting and prayer, miracles occurred, and the sisters of one stake created something extraordinary for others who were cold, hungry, and sick.

Who knows how many lives have been blessed because one woman refused to dwell on her afflictions and instead created the tapestry of service, a monument to the compassion and nobility of the human spirit.

This story is repeated by tens of thousands of faithful members each year. In July of last year, the Presiding Bishopric distributed a letter suggesting that any who wanted to contribute to the relief of the suffering for the refugees in Kosovo could make quilts and send them to the Latter-day Saint Humanitarian Center for distribution. Our intent was to collect and ship 30,000 quilts.

We have received more than 125,000 quilts. These quilts have been sent not only to those suffering in Kosovo, but to disaster victims in Turkey, Venezuela, Mexico, and other countries, including Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

During this past year I was privileged to travel to Kosovo, where I personally wrapped many of these quilts around babies and women grateful and teary-eyed. We have found that because of this great organization, we can create in our own homes, teaching family, friends, and neighbors to serve and assist others clear across the world. In the name of the Relief Society and humanitarian services of the Church, we can be creators.

Resource: Mary Ellen Smoot, “We Are Creators,” Ensign, May 2000, 64

Story (D) Power of Compassion “Sweetwater Story”

God offers us counsel not just for our own safety but for the safety of His other children, whom we should love. There are few comforts so sweet as to know that we have been an instrument in the hands of God in leading someone else to safety. That blessing generally requires the faith to follow counsel when it is hard to do.

An example from Church history is that of Reddick Newton Allred. He was one of the rescue party sent out by President Brigham Young (1801–77) to bring in the Willie and Martin handcart companies. At the Sweetwater River near South Pass, Captain George Grant asked Reddick Allred to remain there with a few men and wagons and be ready to help when the rescuers returned with the handcart pioneers.

The rescuers found the Willie company mired in the snow, freezing, starving, and dying. Some of the rescuers continued to search for the Martin company, while the others helped the Willie company make that heartrending pull up and over Rocky Ridge. Soon after they made camp, Reddick Allred and his men came to deliver essential assistance and supplies.

Allred then waited for Captain Grant to return with the Martin company. Week after week passed with no sign of them. As blizzards howled and the weather became life threatening, two of the men decided it was foolish to stay. They thought the Martin company had either wintered over somewhere or perished. They decided to return to the Salt Lake Valley and tried to persuade everyone else to do the same. Allred refused to budge. President Young had sent them out, and Captain Grant, Reddick Allred’s priesthood leader, had told him to wait there.

Those who returned took several wagons, filled with needed supplies, and started back to the Salt Lake Valley. Even more tragic, they turned back 77 wagons that were coming from the valley to help. Some of these wagons returned all the way to Big Mountain before messengers sent by President Young met them and turned them back around.

Finally, more than three weeks after Reddick Allred had assisted the Willie company, Captain Grant arrived with the Martin company. These pioneers were even more destitute and had suffered dozens of deaths. Captain Grant’s rescue team was small and low on provisions—and still more than 200 miles (320 km) from the Salt Lake Valley. Once again, because Reddick Allred had stayed true to his assignment, even in the most trying circumstances, he was able to provide life-sustaining assistance and supplies.

Resource: Henry B. Eyring, “Safety in Counsel,” Liahona, Jun 2008, 2–7, Gospel Art Image “Helping the Martin Handcart Company across the Sweetwater River” # 415

Story (E) Compassionate Service: with or without the Casserole (excerpts)

Though food can be a helpful, personal kind of gift when you aren’t feeling well, other gifts—love, concern, a listening ear—can be just as important.

**

A man in our ward who is everybody’s favorite person came to my door the day after I came home from the hospital. He was on crutches and in great pain because of a serious knee injury. “I need your kids,” he said.

“Need my kids?” I asked in disbelief. “You ought to be lying around like I am, letting people wait on you.”

He “borrowed” four of my young children and turned them loose in the grocery store to pick out a treat. Then he took them to his house and spent the afternoon showing them video movies while I enjoyed a long, wonderful nap. When I thanked him, he said, “Thanks for letting me borrow them. I needed someone to keep me company and wait on me while I watched movies.” I got the idea he had as much fun as they had!

Service given with this kind of love always means more to the receiver and also flows back to bless the giver.

**

I appreciate the people who have taught me about this kind of compassionate service. How grateful I am for those who have responded to my needs, for those who—empty-handed or not—haven’t been afraid to come with full hearts.

Resources: Lori Boyer, “Compassionate Service: with or without the Casserole,” Ensign, Jan 1985, 68

Refrigerator magnet:

“As you immerse yourselves in the work of our Father—as you create beauty and as you are compassionate to others—God will encircle you in the arms of His love.”

--Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Treat:

Pretty Heroic Cheese Toast

Something simple and the first food I’d thought about when reading Pres. Uchtdorf’s opening comments about desires to please the Lord to the best of our abilities. He’d asked his wife Harriet what he cooked best. Her response was fried eggs, sunny-side up and his specialty dish called Knusperchen which is just bread toasted twice. Suffice it to say, he said that “ between fried eggs, even when they are greasy, and Knusperchen, even when they are burned, when I cook, I feel pretty heroic.” I feel pretty heroic when I make Cheese Toast so here’s the recipe.

Ingredients 2 tablespoons mayonnaise 2 teaspoons prepared mustard 6 slices bread, crust removed 1/3 grated Parmesan cheese Directions Combine mayonnaise and mustard; spread on one side of each slice of bread. Cut each slice into four triangles; place with plain side down on a lightly greased baking sheet. Sprinkle with cheese. Broil 4 in. from the heat for 1-2 minutes or until lightly browned. **You can use bread with crusts with slice of cheese, boil 1 min. and still feel heroic. ☺