Conference Talk: For more information on this topic read "Show You Know," by Coleen K.Menlove, Ensign, May 2003, 115.
Thought: Each of you will have opportunities to learn about Jesus Christ and then follow Him in faith. We show we know how to follow Him by . . . keeping the commandments. . . . Every time you keep the Sabbath day holy, you show you know.
(Coleen K. Menlove, "Show You Know," Ensign, May 2003, 115.)
Song: "The Chapel Doors" Children's Songbook, p. 156.
Scripture: And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God. (Ezekiel 20:20)
Note: The lesson and story below are from a DVD called Family Night with John Bytheway.
Object Lesson: Show your family a birthday cake or a picture of a birthday cake. Ask the following questions:
- What does this mean? (That it is somebody's birthday)
- Does everyone have a special day? (Yes)
- Does Heavenly Father have a day? (Yes)
- What do we call that? (Sabbath)
Explain that we treat that day different than the other days of the week.
(John Bytheway, Family Night With John Bytheway, DVD, [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2010].)
Story: Eli Herring was an offensive lineman at BYU. He was very big--he kind of looked like a major appliance with legs. USA Today said that he would go first round in the NFL draft. But as the time approached, he said, "I don't want to enter the draft." The entire media said, "What!" He said, "I don't want to enter the draft." They said, "Why?" And he said, "Because. The games are on Sunday. I don't want to play on Sunday."
Eli Herring's father, David L. Herring, explained, "Our great-grandfathers called it the Holy Sabbath day. Our grandfathers called it the Sabbath. Our fathers called it Sunday, and now we just call it the weekend. Our family feels like our great-grandfathers did about the Holy Sabbath day."
We have to ask, "Where is it with me? Is it the Holy Sabbath, the Sabbath, Sunday, or is it just kind of the weekend?"
The first summer of my marriage, I opened up my planner and it said "August 9th." I thought, August 9th, what is that? I should remember that. It took me a while to figure it out--it's not my birthday, it's not my wife's birthday, what is August 9th? Then I thought, Oh, that is the anniversary of our first date. So I thought, this will be fun, I'll write a card or something. On the way home from work, I stopped at a florist and bought a rose and a vase. I wrote a card that said, "Dear Kim, Happy Anniversary of our first date. Love, John."
I put it on the table and thought, she'll like that. Oh, my goodness, I had no idea how much she'd like that. She said, "You remembered our first date! You are the best husband in the world."
I learned something I'd heard a million times: actions speak louder than words. The words were "Dear Kim, Happy Anniversary of our first date." The actions were I remembered, I bought the rose, put the rose in the vase, put the vase out on the table. The action said of course I would remember you on our day.
Let's broaden this little idea. Here's the Lord looking down on us and He says, "Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy." We can say, "Soon as I get home from church, I'm going to change my clothes, I'm going to change my radio station, I'm going to change my attitude. I'm going to act like it is any other day." Well, you can if you want, but actions speak louder than words. Do you want to show the Lord how you feel about Him? One way to do that is how you treat the Sabbath day.
(John Bytheway, Family Night With John Bytheway, DVD, [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2010].)
Activity: Create a "Can-Do" box for your family, similar to the one described below. Be creative and customize your Sunday box with a variety of things. Church magazines, audiovisual materials, wholesome books--there's so much to enjoy. If everyone in the family is invited to contribute something, your "can-do" box will be filled with wonderful activities for a Sabbath day.
Our family has a "can-do" box that's brimming with appropriate activities for Sabbath worship. Over time, we've added or rotated many things, but we started with just a few dress-up items. It all began when we saw a Sunday dress-up box that one of our ward members had. The children absolutely loved it because they could reenact scripture stories in costume. Simple props like a bathrobe; an old dress; a child's plastic sword, shield, and armor; and many other inexpensive or recycled items are possibilities.
We also wanted to encourage letter writing, so we added a container of writing supplies. We included addressed envelopes, stickers, and colored markers and pens. Even our youngest child loved sending letters to ward missionaries and family members.
Of course, we had to have a variety of wholesome games, including word searches and crossword puzzles. We even recycled leftover Primary lesson materials and old singing time props. The children were delighted to play with these appealing teaching materials.
(Stacilee Whiting, "Our Sabbath 'Can-Do' Box," Ensign, Sept. 2009, 70.)
Refreshment
Dump Cake
- 1 (26-ounce) can cherry pie filling
- 1 (20-ounce) can crushed pineapple
- 1 package yellow or white cake mix
- 3/4 cup butter
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13-inch cake pan. Dump pie filling in the bottom of pan and spread as evenly as possible. Dump crushed pineapple, with juice, evenly over pie filling. Sprinkle cake mix evenly over the fruit. Do not stir. Slice butter thinly and place slices over cake mix. Try to cover mix. Bake 45 minutes. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
(Lion House Bakery, [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2009], p. 93.)
Click here to download the PDF version of this lesson.