1987
Sharing Time: Compass of Faith
June 1987

“Sharing Time: Compass of Faith,” Friend, June 1987, 12

Sharing Time:

Compass of Faith

By Pat Graham

Let us be faithful to [the Lord] (1 Ne. 7:12).

Suppose that one day your father told you and your family that you were going on a journey. However, he did not know how long you would be gone or where you would be going. You would take only food and tents, and you would have no map to guide you. Would you be willing to follow your father? It would take great faith for you to agree to do what your father asked. Faith is one of the first principles of the gospel.

Read about Lehi’s journey to the promised land in 1 Nephi in the Book of Mormon. (See also calendar, page 24.) Heavenly Father guided Lehi’s family with a strange ball called the Liahona (lee-a-HO-nah). This ball was a kind of compass that worked according to the faith and obedience of Lehi and his family. When they were obedient, the spindles pointed in the direction that they were to travel and to places where they could find food. Writing would also appear on the Liahona to give them additional help. But when they were not faithful, or when they complained and quarreled, the Liahona would not work.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a Liahona to tell us the things that we should do every day? We are told that our conscience can be compared to the Liahona and that our conscience can help us find the right way to live, according to our faith and our obedience to Heavenly Father’s commandments.

Compass of Faith

Illustrated by Shauna Mooney

Instructions

  1. Connect dots to make picture of what Liahona may have looked like.

    Liahona

  2. Mount figures on heavy paper, cut out; fold tabs along dotted lines.

  3. In family home evening, stand up figures as you tell story of journey to promised land. Tell ways that each member of family did, or did not, show faith through their obedience. Do calendar activity on page 24.

Sharing Time Ideas

  1. Prepare copies of dot-to-dot for younger children. While they connect dots, use family figures to tell story of Lehi’s journey.

  2. Use calendar, page 24. Assign children verses to find and read. Enlarge calendar pictures for children to color. They could be shown in roller-box (see Friend, October 1981, pages 42–43) as verses are read.

  3. Sing “True to the Faith” (Hymns, no 254).

  4. Other resources: “Our Own Liahona” (Ensign, November 1976, pages 77–79), “The Liahona” (library picture OQ041), “Listen to the Prophet” (activity—Primary Sharing Time Resource Manual, page 65).