“FHE Object Lesson: Your Daily Get-Up-and-Go,” New Era, September 2017
FHE Object Lesson
Your Daily Get-Up-and-Go
Teach your family about spiritual power-ups.
Illustration by David Habben
Our bodies are incredibly efficient machines. How awesome is it that you can hike for hours powered on a single granola bar? On the other hand, skip enough meals in a row and you’ll soon end up with as much energy as a lethargic snail in deep hibernation. Your body needs regular fuel to keep on keepin’ on.
Our spirits also require daily nourishment to stay strong. In fact, President Thomas S. Monson recently challenged each of us to read the Book of Mormon every day.1
Here’s a fun way to teach your family the value of keeping our spiritual engines revved up and ready to rumble, or in this case, ready to boat across open water.
Object lesson time!
1. Preparation
First cut out a boat that looks more or less like this (see image 1 below). Be sure to cut out the notch in the bottom. That’s what will allow your boat to zip through water later. A good size for the boat is around 2–3 inches (5–8 cm) in total length.
Next, squeeze a small amount of liquid soap into a small container. Finally, pour enough water into the cookie sheet to float your boat and get ready to serve up a little awesome with a side of wowzers!
2. Stuck in the Water
Hold up the boat and explain to your family that it represents your spiritual self. You could even provide the craft with a noble name, such as the S.S. Spirit Express.
Next, tell your family that the tray of water represents a typical day you need to get through. This includes all the many little decisions you face on a regular basis: thoughts to think, deeds to do, bad stuff to avoid, etc.
So what happens when your spirit doesn’t get its fuel for the day? Place the boat in the water and find out.
You guessed it. It just sits in the water. It’s not going anywhere.
3. Fueling Up
All righty, let’s put some gas in the tank. Tell your family that giving your spirit its daily fuel—such as saying prayers and reading the scriptures—makes all the difference in getting from point A to point B.
Take the boat out of the water, dip the toothpick or craft stick into the soap, and coat the inside of the notch at the back of the boat with soap. As you do, explain that this represents taking the time to do all of those small, simple things that feed our spirits.
4. Vroom Vroom!
So now what happens when we tackle the day? Place the boat in one end of the water tray and get ready for some ooohs and ahhhhs. The boat should zip across the water! Your spiritual self is firing on all cylinders, ready to navigate what lies ahead.
You might point out how little time it took to apply the soap even though it made such a huge difference. Similarly, it doesn’t take a massive portion of our day to nourish ourselves spiritually. But what a difference it makes in the end!