Lesson Helps

FHE: Potential

Conference Talk:
For more information on this topic read “Your Potential, Your Privilege,” by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Ensign, May 2011, 58.

Thought:
Think of what a glorious thing it is to reach beyond our earthly limitations, to have the eyes of our understanding opened and receive light and knowledge from celestial sources!

(President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Your Potential, Your Privilege,” Ensign, May 2011, 58.)

Song:
“I Am a Child of God,” Children’s Songbook, p. 2.

Scripture:
But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. (Matthew 19:26)

Object Lesson:
Materials Needed: A mirror.

Procedure: Show mirror to family, let them see themselves if possible.

Ask: Does a mirror ever give us a true likeness of ourselves? Explain that a mirror throws our reflection back at us in reverse. We are so used to seeing ourselves in the way the mirror show us that few of us would recognize ourselves any other way. We all should seek for a glimpse of ourselves as seen in the sight of God. That wold be most revealing and most helpful.

(Adapted from Albert L. Zobell, Jr., Talks To See, [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1971], p. 110.)

Story:
A beautiful young woman sent me a book entitled Hope for the Flowers (Trina Paulus [Paramus, N. J.: Paulist Press, 1972]). Let me share its message with you.

It tells of a tiny striped caterpillar and how he joined a pile of other squirming, pushing caterpillars who were trying to get to the top of the pile. It was only when he talked to a certain yellow caterpillar that the two of them decided that getting on the top wasn’t really what they wanted most. So, they climbed down and away from the others. They enjoyed being together, and they ate and grew fat until one day they became bored, and they wanted to find out if there was more to life. The striped caterpillar decided to find out by climbing again to the top of the caterpillar pile. The yellow caterpillar felt ashamed that she didn’t agree but decided it was better to wait until she could take action she could believe in. So he climbed, and she wandered aimlessly until she saw a caterpillar hanging upside down on a branch and caught in some hairy substance. She said, “You seem to be in trouble. Can I help you?” “No,” said the hanging caterpillar, “I have to do this to become a butterfly.”

“Butterfly? What is a butterfly?”

“It’s what you are meant to be. It flies with beautiful wings and joins the earth to heaven. It drinks only nectar from the flowers and carries seeds of love from one flower to another. Without butterflies the world would soon have few flowers.”

The yellow caterpillar exclaimed, “It can’t be true! How can I believe there’s a butterfly inside you or me when all I see is a fuzzy worm? How does one become a butterfly?”

The hanging caterpillar said, “You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar.”

The yellow caterpillar began fearfully but continued the process until at length she became a butterfly. Then she helped the striped caterpillar learn who he was and leave the pile to become what he was really meant to be. . . .

So it is for us as Latter-day Saints. We too must act worthy of ourselves and the glorious vision of truth and eternity which has been restored to us. That vision of eternal growth and gentle, loving persuasion is too great a dream to let go of when we hunger in our hearts to be one with our Savior.

The power is in you to reach out and claim those blessings. You have the powers within you to be Christlike. It is what you are meant to be.

(Barbara B. Smith, "The Powers Within You," speech given at Brigham Young University on 1 February 1981. © Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Activity:
Play “Who Am I?”

Divide the players into two groups. To begin select a player from one of the groups to be “it.” “It” decides on a character from either the Bible, the Book of Mormon, or Latter-day Saint leaders and announces it source to the players. He then gives a clue; for instance if “it” chose Moses, he could say, “I went up a mountain.” Each group has one guess and if it gives the correct answer that side receives ten points. If no correct answer is given, another clue is offered for nine points, and so on. When the answer is given or the count gets to zero the other side choose one to be “it.”

(Alma Heaton, The LDS Game Book, [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1968], p. 34.)

Refreshment
Hazie’s Lazy-Dazy Cake

2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup milk
Dollop butter (about the size of a walnut)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 recipe Lazy- Dazy Frosting (see below)

Grease and flour a 9x13-inch metal baking pan. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs lightly with a wire whisk. Beat the sugar into the eggs until combined well. In a separate bowl, sift the flour and baking powder together, and then stir it into the egg mixture; set aside. In a small saucepan, heat the milk over low heat until it is just about to boil. Stir constantly to prevent milk from scorching. Add the butter to the hot milk and stir until the butter melts. Immediately pour the hot milk/butter into the flour and egg mixture. Stir in the vanilla. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Prepare Lazy- Dazy Frosting while cake is baking; pour over the cake while the cake is still hot. Return cake to the oven and turn on the broiler to brown the coconut. Watch carefully, so you don’t burn the cake.

Serves 12 to 16.

Lazy-Dazy Frosting

1/4 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup shredded coconut

Combine all ingredients in a heavy saucepan over medium- high heat. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring consistantly; maintain boil for 31/2 minutes.

(Clark L. and Kathryn H. Kidd, 52 Weeks of Recipes for Student, Missionaries, and Nervous Cooks, [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2007], p. 36.)

To get the PDF version of this lesson, click here.

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