Commandments Sharing Time

Reverence Journals Coloring Page (journals for the children to work in while we wait for all of the classes to arrive.

Freeze song - have a stop sign to signal when to sing and when to stop. This sign can also be used in opening/closing exercises to signal when the children should be more reverent. I'm using this picture on a stop sign.

Keep the commandments; keep the commandments!
In this there is safety; in this there is peace.
He will send blessings; He will send blessings.
Words of a prophet: Keep the commandments.
In this there is safety and peace.
(Children’s Songbook, page 146).

Display picture of Harold B Lee

In July 1972 Harold B. Lee became the eleventh President of the Church. One hour after the announcement was made, he met with newspaper and television reporters. One of them asked him if he had a message for Church members.

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President Lee said: “The safety of the church lies in the members keeping the commandments. There is nothing more important that I could say. As they keep the commandments, blessings will come.” (See Church News, 15 July 1972, page 3.)

What is a commandment?
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What is obedience?
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Any questions?

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“Keeping the commandments is the anchor for our safety amidst the storm. True peace will come to each individual, family, and nation only as we learn obedience to the laws of our Heavenly Father.” Barbara A. McConochie, was so impressed with President Lee's words that she wrote the song “Keep the Commandments” for Primary children. Its words tell us of two blessings that come from keeping the commandments: “In this there is safety and peace.”

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An anchor is a heavy object that sailors use aboard ships on the ocean. They lower the anchor on a chain to the ocean floor, and it keeps the ship from drifting. Even in storms, when the ship is being buffeted by waves and wind, the anchor keeps the ship where it should be.
We are like sailors lowering anchors when we use the commandments to keep ourselves safe. Commandments, like anchors, help keep us secure and in the right place. Even when we feel tossed about by temptations or by the unkind words or actions of others, the commandments can help us stay steady and safe. As we keep the commandments, we know in our hearts that we are doing what is right and that eventually good will come. In this there is safety and peace.

Game
attach a toy boat with string and a safety pin to a sheet. Add paper rocks with safety pins as well. The rocks represent sins and the anchor is the commandments. Name commandments and put their opposites on the rocks - dress immodestly, lie, etc. Add three foam or paper boats that say "This commandment is just too hard" "This commandment is not important." "This commandment doesn't apply to me." These are from the linked conference talk by Elder Carlson Now shake the blanket like a storm at sea. The boat anchored with the commandments is saved the foam boats are lost. They may hit the rocks or drift out to sea because they are not anchored by Heavenly Father's commandments.

Instructions: Color the picture of each commandment you keep. In the empty “bubbles,” draw, color, and label additional pictures of commandments you keep (pray every day, go to church, pay tithing, love my neighbor, follow the prophet, keep the word of wisdom, forgive others, and so forth).