YW Manual 3 Lesson 15 Blessings of the House of Israel

I teach 14-15 year old girls each Sunday. This is my lesson Plan for my upcoming lesson on the Blessings of the House of Israel.

I’m going to use the talk “Identity, Priority, and Blessings,” by Russell M. Nelson found here, as a general outline for the lesson. (Anything highlighted in tan is from this talk.) My girls love quotes and so I’m going to print up all the quotes for them. PDF file for all lesson handout here. (it's 3 pages so scroll down)

Identity

First of all I will ask the girls, who they are?  They are daughters, sisters, friends, girls, students, etc.  Most importantly they are daughters of a Heavenly Father and I don’t think that you can point that out too often.

It is important to know who you are and who you may become. It is more important than what you do, vital as your work is. You pursue an education to prepare for life’s work, but you also need to prepare for life—eternal life. I emphasize this because some people on life’s journey forget who they really are and what is really important. Without sure identity and priority, blessings that matter most are at the mercy of things that matter least

Jesus Christ knows who we are:

“Behold,” He said, “ye are the children of the prophets; and ye are of the house of Israel; and ye are of the covenant which the Father made with your fathers, saying unto Abraham: And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed” (3 Ne. 20:25; emphasis added).

I will ask, "Who does Jesus Christ say that we are?"

I will explain that by being baptized they have been adopted into the House of Israel and have all the responsibilities and blessing of the House of Israel.

The Bible Dictionary gives a clear, concise explanation of the covenant and we will read and discuss it together.

To make the Abrahamic Covenant more clear, I am going to print out the following : 

The Abrahamic Covenant
If we:
1,  Keep the commandments
2. Endure to the end
3. Believe in Jesus Christ
4. Be spiritually minded
5. Be married in the temple
 HE will bless us with:
1.The Gospel
2. The Priesthood
3. Eternal Life

Priority

I will discuss the following quotes with the girls.

You work to sustain life; you don’t live to sustain work.

I doubt that the Lord cares much which honorable vocation you pursue. But He does care if you love one another and serve one another (see Mosiah 4:15). And He cares that you have the obedience and self-discipline needed to maintain your identity and honor your highest priorities.

President Gordon B. Hinckley gave counsel to you sisters. He said: “I urge each of you young women to get all of the schooling you can get. You will need it for the world into which you will move. … No other generation in all of history has offered women so many opportunities. Your first objective should be a happy marriage, sealed in the temple of the Lord, and followed by the rearing of a good family. Education can better equip you for the realization of those ideals.”¹

Real love is not measured in terms of moonlight and roses but in terms of who will care for you when you are old.

When mortal life is over, each of us will return to God, who gave us life. In a judgment interview, I doubt that He will ask a surgeon, “How many operations did you perform?” or “Do you wish you had spent more time at the hospital?” But I know He will ask if Sister Nelson and I remained faithful to our covenants to take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ and always remember Him. No doubt He will carefully scrutinize my apostolic ministry, but that vital subject will probably be subordinated to His evaluation of my record as a husband and father.

Seek not the things of this world but seek ye first to build up the kingdom of God, and to establish his righteousness; and all … things shall be added unto you” Matt. 6:33

Blessings

We have been promised, “All that he hath”.  Really what more can we ask for?  What’s more than everything?

(the middle is a mirror)

I will end by giving a handout to each girl, with this quote by Dallin H. Oaks:

“… It is not enough for anyone just to go through the motions. The commandments, ordinances, and covenants of the gospel are not a list of deposits required to be made in some heavenly account. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a plan that shows us how to become what our Heavenly Father desires us to become.”  

I will ask each girl to look into the mirror and will tell them that they are truly daughters of God and heirs to all that he has.  I will then ask them to record in their notebooks, what they want to “become”.

 I found little glass mirrors at Hobby Lobby ($2.47 /10).  I printed out the quote by Dallin H. Oaks.  I used my Cricut Cake Basic's to cut out the mirror frame and the crown. ( I also thought it would be really cute to use my Paper Doll Dress up and cut out princess and use the mirror for the head.) I used a piece of cloud scrapbook paper to mount everything on.

You can find my other YW ideas here.