How important is it to have Family Home Evening, Family Scripture Reading and Family Prayer?
How often do you have your Family Home Evening, Family Scripture Reading and Family Prayer?
It isn’t a failsafe guard for our children here on earth, but I believe our efforts will be counted in the hereafter. We have been commanded to hold these family meetings and there is an eternal reason.
Now, how easy is it to hold these meetings? It’s darn near impossible!!!! Our family was of the Family Home Screaming variety and the Family Scripture Snorefest. If a child was yelling or complaining about anything, typically that was the child asked to say the prayer. Yeah, we know, that’s pretty cruel. The prayer may have been short, but there was usually no yelling after the prayer.
There are a million and one ways how to conduct these meetings and they all work. Some people are more organized than others. Some families are more cooperative than others. Some kids are trained to not know anything different. Most families can learn and achieve the appropriate habits. And I believe very strongly…that any effort of the above three counts in your behalf. The Lord gives freely an A for effort. Here are just a few suggestions for families who need fresh ideas.
Family Home Evening: (Sunday or Monday night)
- Let the kids be the teachers.
- Couples can practice marriage techniques, perform service projects, or study the scriptures together.
- Singles can meet together and do good all over the place with their enthusiasm.
- Teach children old fashioned skills, dying arts, things that no one else teaches anymore.
- Lessons from the scriptures, FHE manual, Preach My Gospel, church magazines can go a looooonnng way.
Family Scripture Reading: (daily)
- Have a complete devotional meeting with music, talks, etc. (kids moving around will be kids awake.
- Draw pictures of what you read.
- Test the kids during FHE what they have learned in Family Scripture Reading.
Family Prayer: (mornings, meal times, bedtime—some or all, whatever you can do)
- Teach children to pray for one another, ward members, missionaries, the prophet, etc.
- Discuss what should be prayed about beforehand.
- Thank one another for the prayer.
The blessings from performing this very important commandment may not be evident in this earth life, but don’t let that frustrate you. Think beyond the mark, spice things up occasionally, pat yourself on the back for sticking with it, AND DON’T GIVE UP. The blessings of living and teaching this gospel are worth every effort you can muster. The rewards will be yours. The Lord hath spoken it.
“Discuss what should be prayed about beforehand”
An excellent idea! That would certainly ensure that we make our prayers more thoughtful if we have a small family counsel about who needs our prayers and for what.
During my teenage years my parents decided that our family needed two FHEs, because we all loved to have activities, but they knew we also had to have lessons too. So Sunday night was lesson and Monday night was activity.
Also, for the longest time we had one of those home-made wheels that assigned everyone their own duty each week–song, prayer, conductor, refreshments, lesson, activity–everyone knew they had a part. It really made it fun to have our own part to play in the whole scheme. Everyone of us took turns giving the lesson, even the ones who were barely reading. They shared a story from the Friend magazine. I remember many Mondays looking through New Era magazines that my mom had saved, looking for a cool story to share as a lesson for FHE when it was my turn to give a lesson.
We read scriptures as a family right after dinner. Eveyone got their own copy to read from. No one was allowed to leave until the scriptures were read. My husband and I do it a little different. We read scriptures together and have family prayer in the morning just before my husband goes off to work or I go to school.