Family Home Evening on Showing Love, Appreciation and Respect to Family Members and Building a Happy Family.

 I hope and pray that you can use these ideas as a guideline and adjust them to the needs of your own specific family.  Our prophet President Monson says, "We cannot afford to neglect this heaven-inspired program. It can bring spiritual growth to each member of the family, helping him or her to withstand the temptations which are everywhere. The lessons learned in the home are those that last the longest."  On Lds.org there are resources available in helping to make your Family Home Evenings successful, here is a link to that site on Family Home Evenings.

For tonight's Family Home Evening the topic in which I have chosen is, Showing Love, Appreciation and Respect to Family Members and Building a Happy Family.  I picked this topic because I have noticed that my kids have been at each other's throats lately.  It is a topic that my family could greatly use at this time.

Welcome everyone to Family Night

Sing: "The Family is of God"

Have a member of the family member say the prayer

Discuss any family business

Follow-up with last weeks FHE.

Introduce this weeks Topic: Showing Love, Appreciation and Respect to Family Members and Building a Happy Family.

Scripture: Read and Mark: Mosiah 4:15

Article of Faith: #2 "We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression." Repeat this Article of Faith as a Family.  Help each family member memorize the Article of Faith.

I stumbled upon this amazing section on the LDS.org website! It is Happiness in Family Life. Please review it and pick out what applies best to your family.

Here is what I will be planning on doing with my family:

Share this statement from the Family Proclamation: "Happiness in Family Life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities.”~ The Family: A Proclamation to the World ~

As a family discuss the following principles:

Faith: Discuss as a family how having FAITH in our Heavenly Father can help us to have happiness in our families.  Discussion might include: that we have faith when we believe in things we can not see. We have faith and by the spirit know that we are each our Heavenly Father's children, that he loves us each personally and because of the love has created a plan for us to follow.  Part of that plan is that we are born to families. We each have a responsibility to strengthen our family.

Prayer: Discuss as a family how PRAYER can help us to have happiness in our families.  Discussion might include: the love that our Heavenly Father has for us and his desire for us to communicate with him.  He wants to know the things we are grateful for, the things we are struggling with, the ways we are in need of his help and then ways we would like for him to help others.  We pray individually and as a family.  When we kneel together and pray to our Heavenly Father our family will be strengthened.  The spirit can dwell more easily in our homes.

Repentance: Play the video  ""Re-turning" toward God", it can be found by following the link and in the video section towards the middle of the page. After viewing the video discuss as a family how REPENTANCE can help us to have happiness in our families.  Discussion might include: The family is made from imperfect people.  We each make mistakes.  There may be times when we are unkind to a family member or we offend a family member.  Our Heavenly Father gave us a wonderful gift of repentance, by allowing his son Jesus Christ to atone for our pains and sins.  When we do something wrong we need to repent and use the atonement.  We need to make things right with family members, so we can be happy.

Forgiveness: Play the video "Moral Courage to Forgive", this video can be found by following the link and in the video section towards the middle of the page, arrow over to the second video. After viewing the video discuss as a family how FORGIVENESS can help us to have happiness in our families. Discussion might include: As we discussed earlier that we are each imperfect and make mistakes.  When someone does something to hurt us or offend us we need to forgive freely.  That means that we forgive them, even if they do not ask for forgiveness.  That is our responsibility is to forgive.  When we forgive others, especially family members, it brings a sense of peace to the home. “I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men” (D&C 64:10).

 Respect: Play both of these videos, "Our Family-Centered Perspective" and "Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother" these videos can be found by following the link and in the video section towards the middle of the page. Discuss with your family that you are each sons and daughters of your Heavenly Father. We each have that divine potential.  Discuss ways you can treat each other with respect. (For my family we will probably talk about how we respect each other by the way we talk to each other.  Show love and support for each family member.  Remembering that we are each God's children, nobody should ever be treated or made to be felt less than such. Treating each other with kindness, using kind uplifting words, etc.)


 Love: Read this quote from President Henry B. Eyring (Our Perfect Example): "The greatest joys and the greatest sorrows we experience are in family relationships. The joys come from putting the welfare of others above our own. That is what love is. And the sorrow comes primarily from selfishness, which is the absence of love. The ideal God holds for us is to form families in the way most likely to lead to happiness and away from sorrow.”  Discuss with your family some ways you can show unselfishness and love for one another.

Compassion: Watch the video, "The Compassion of Christ" it can be found by following the link and in the video section towards the middle of the page. After viewing the video discuss as a family ways you can show compassion with in your family.  Also, how your family can work together to show compassion towards others.  When we serve others we are happier.  We are not so concerned about our selves, rather our attention is turned towards others.

Work: Watch the video, "A Consecrated Life Is Filled with Work" it can be found by following the link and in the video section towards the middle of the page. After viewing the video discuss as a family the importance of working together as a family.  Discuss ways you can work together and make the work more enjoyable for everyone involved.

Wholesome recreational activities: Ask each family member what is something they enjoy doing as a family?  Discuss and decide on an activity that you can do as a family during the week.  Read this statement by M. Russell Ballard: What Matters Most Is What Lasts Longest, "Create meaningful family bonds that give your children an identity stronger than what they can find with their peer group or at school or anyplace else. This can be done through family traditions for birthdays, for holidays, for dinnertime, and for Sundays."

Bear testimonies on Showing Love, Appreciation and Respect to Family Members and building a happy family.

Close with a Family Prayer.

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