# PonderIt

## Wednesday, March 22, 2006

### An "eye" for Nephi

As I look back at the Family Home Evening of my childhood, I distinctly remember two kinds: the ones I hated and the ones I loved. (I'm sure that there were a ton of just regular ones, but why would I remember them?) The ones I hated, of course, usually had to do with my father and mother solemnly discussing our chores (and the lack of doing them) or family relations (stop picking on your brother) in a disappointed tone. The ones I loved--besides going to the library or playing kickball in the street outside--usually had to do with the scriptures: putting the pictures of scripture stories in chronological order, memorizing scriptures by erasing one word at a time, etc. My favorite was the scripture chase--being the first to find the scripture announced by Daddy. And he wouldn't give you the actual reference, oh no. He'd say something like "I will go and do..." and you'd be racing to turn your pages to 1 Ne 3:7. "A witness and a warning" would send you off to the first section of the Doctrine and Covenants. We'd have little symbols drawn on the top of the page to help us remember where the scriptures were--an eye for "I will go and do", a traffic sign for "a warning", etc. I loved those evenings because they were crazy and loud, with much cheering and boo-ing. And we got to know (and love) the scriptures pretty well.
Fast forward several (many) years, and now I have a family of my own. Of course, my oldest is only two and a half, so FHE is short and filled with songs about sunbeams and apricot trees. Our lesson this week was on cleaning up your toys when Mommy asks. But in every FHE for the last month, we've read 1 Ne 3:7--at least the "I will go and do" part of it--and had Ezra repeat it. I figure if my son can quote dialogue from his favorite movies after seeing them twenty times, he can memorize a few scriptures, too--right? And as soon as he's old enough, I'll have him draw a little eye at the top of that page.

#### 2 Comments:

- My favorite FHE was when my father drew out and discussed the plan of salvation. I was about 14. It was one of the turning points in my life. I made a post on it once, but I'm too lazy now to give a link. Thanks for you posts.

  By Eric Nielson, at 3/22/2006 12:33 PM

- Looking back on my rearing, even our family's bad FHEs were valuable to our family cohesiveness. My angel mother always put together great lessons when it was her turn. My very spiritual and philosophical dad (whom I love dearly) would try to discuss the gospel with us at his level. We'd glaze over and stare blankly. (Today dad and I can discuss the gospel at that level with both of us tremendously enjoying the discussion.)
  The FHE I remember most was one out of an early 70s FHE manual about a kid creating a monster by telling cascading lies. There was a cut-out of the kid and a bunch of cut-outs of hairy arms along with an ugly, hairy face. With each lie an arm was added to encircle the kid. Repentance was represented by throwing the arms and the ugly face into a trash can. The most memorable moment was when my brother put the ugly monster face on top of the kid's face. It sounds stupid now, but to a 10-year-old kid it was hilarious.

  By Reach Upward, at 3/23/2006 8:08 AM

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