Home Evening Object Lesson

Your Daily Spiritual Charge

By Emma Stanford

Church Magazines

Small and simple things can have gravity-defying, life-changing results!

Does it ever feel like you’re going through the motions of daily gospel practices but it isn’t making a difference? We’re all encouraged to spend time in the scriptures every day and to pray often. But sometimes it can be hard to notice the benefits of these small, daily habits.

Although simple habits like personal prayer and daily scripture study might seem small, they have the power to influence the direction of your day—and your life.

Find a plastic comb, a faucet, and a dry-haired volunteer—it’s object lesson time!

Supplies:

Illustrations by David Habben

• A dry plastic comb

• An indoor faucet

• A head full of clean, dry hair (It doesn’t have to be your own—see if someone else will let you “static” up their hair!)

What to Do

1. Turn on the faucet to a very thin stream of water. At this point, gravity is the only thing influencing the direction of the water. Explain to your family that gravity is like our everyday routine. But a daily spiritual recharge can have an awesome effect on the direction of our lives, just like the charged-up comb will affect the little stream.

2. Brush the plastic comb through your hair (or your family member’s hair) 10 times. Now bring the comb close to the thin stream of water (without actually touching it). Watch as the magic happens. If all goes well, the stream of water should bend toward the comb!

   OK, so it’s actually science, not magic. When you comb your hair over and over, static electricity gathers on the comb in the form of tiny, microscopic electrons. When you bring the comb near the water, the accumulation of those small electrons attracts the water, literally bending it!

3. Try the experiment again, this time combing your hair only once or twice. This doesn’t gather enough electrons to move the water. But doing it 10 times, or 20 or 30, can gather up a shocking amount of static!

   Ask your family what the difference was between the two experiments, and how that can relate to our own spiritual habits throughout the day (or the week, or an entire lifetime). Then do the experiment the right way one more time because, well, it’s fun!

The Power of a Daily Charge

Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has taught: “The spiritual pattern of small and simple things bringing forth great things produces firmness and steadfastness, deepening devotion, and more complete conversion to the Lord Jesus Christ and His gospel.”¹

Like the microscopic electrons that gather on the comb, there are small, daily spiritual activities we can do to charge our testimonies. These spiritual charges can be many things: scripture study, personal prayer, taking the sacrament, going to seminary. Explain that the daily things might seem small, but those spiritual charges can make a big difference, even if it’s just bending your life slightly in the right direction (see Doctrine and Covenants 64:33).

Ask your family to list ways you can gather up little spiritual charges throughout the day and week. Consistent, spiritual influences in your life can be powerful enough to defy gravity!

Notes

1. David A. Bednar, “By Small and Simple Things Are Great Things Brought to Pass” (Brigham Young University Women’s Conference address, Apr. 29, 2011), 5, womensconference.byu.edu/transcripts.