I Believe in Being Obedient

By Karen Lofgreen

“By the obedience of one [man] shall many be made righteous” (Rom. 5:19).

Being obedient means making right choices. When you are obedient, you are blessed. Can you remember a time when you were blessed because you obeyed a commandment, a law, or your parents?

President Howard W. Hunter knew that it was important to obey his parents. He also learned that it is important to obey Heavenly Father’s commandments. He kept a journal, in which he wrote about things that happened in his early life and about the lessons he learned when he was obedient to his parents.

For example, when President Hunter was a child, his parents asked him to help plant a family garden each spring. During the summer and fall, he picked the fruits and vegetables and helped his mother preserve, or save, them in jars so that they could be eaten during months when they weren’t otherwise available.

His mother taught him to pray, and he developed a testimony while he was very young. He said, “My mother had taught me to pray and to thank Heavenly Father for all the things that I enjoyed. I often thanked him for the beauty of the earth and for the wonderful times that I had at the ranch and by the river and with the Scouts. I also learned to ask him for the things that I wanted or needed.”

When he was eight years old, he wanted to be baptized. His nonmember father felt that Howard should be older before he chose to join any church. Even though he knew Heavenly Father wanted him to be a member of the Church, young Howard also knew it was important to do what his father wanted him to do. He honored his father by waiting for his permission. Five months after his twelfth birthday, Howard was baptized.

When he was a teenager, the Saints in Boise, Idaho, met with Church officials to talk about building a new tabernacle. The Boise members were asked to donate money to build the tabernacle, and Howard was the first to raise his hand. He pledged 25 dollars as his offering. That was a lot of money for a teenager in those days. “I worked and saved until I was able to pay my commitment in full,” he remembers.

Instructions

The pictures of President Hunter on page 9 show some of the things that President Hunter did to be obedient. Fill in the missing word(s) under each picture. Then, on separate sheets of paper, draw pictures of ways that you are obedient. Label and color the pictures.

Illustrated by Jerry Harston

Sharing Time Ideas

Make a calendar for each child. Have the older children fill in the name of the month and the days of the week (teachers may do this for younger children). Let each child decorate his or her own calendar, and encourage all to hang them in their homes. Each evening they can write or draw on the calendar what they did to be obedient (such as, “I stopped at the stop sign,” “I said my prayers,” “I helped my mother”). Have them bring the completed calendars to Primary on the final Sunday of the month and share them.
Invite the children to name some songs that help them learn about obedience. Sing the songs and discuss which rules of obedience are taught in each song. Include “I Thank Thee, Dear Father,” “Baptism,” “Quickly I’ll Obey,” (Children’s Songbook, pages 7, 100, and 197).
Have the children draw a picture illustrating the following terms. They will add these to their “My Articles of Faith Book” (see Sharing Time, Tambulilit, February 1995, page 13): obedience—when we are willing to make the right choice; law—a rule that requires us to be obedient.