“3 Family Home Evening Ideas to Recharge Your Spiritual Batteries,” Liahona, January 2018
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3 Family Home Evening Ideas to Recharge Your Spiritual Batteries
We all need to recharge our spiritual batteries every day. Elder W. Mark Bassett of the Seventy writes about this need in “Look and Live” (Liahona, Jan. 2018). These activity ideas based on his article can be adapted by families with children of all ages for use in family home evening.
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Like the children of Israel, we also need to gather “spiritual manna” every day—we pray, study scriptures, keep the commandments, and serve others in order to keep the Spirit with us. Find something that you can use as “manna” (buttons, toys, balls of paper, etc.) and spread them out on your floor. Have the children gather the manna and put it into a bowl. (To make the game a little harder, you might hide the manna.) Every time they place a piece of manna in the bowl, they can give an example of an action that provides spiritual nourishment. Consider reading Exodus 16:19–21 and having a discussion. Why was it important for the Israelites to gather manna every day? And why is it important for us?
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Just like the car’s battery that needed to be periodically recharged in Elder Bassett’s story, we too need to be spiritually recharged. Find a windup toy or top—something that must be wound or spun in order to work. Spin or wind the toy a few times. How does this relate to how we power ourselves spiritually? What happens when we stop spinning the top? Similarly, what happens if we stop saying our prayers or going to church? You may want to reference the “Spiritual Manna” section of Elder Bassett’s article.
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If our “spiritual batteries” are charged and strong, the Holy Ghost can be our constant companion. Before family home evening, make two lists of actions: (1) things that drain our spiritual batteries (such as lying, being mean to a brother/sister, skipping scripture study) and (2) things that charge them (such as paying tithing, visiting the sick, partaking of the sacrament). Read each item aloud. Ask the children to go to the left side of the room if the action drains our spiritual batteries and to the right if it charges them. Encourage them to choose the right.