2023
Families and the Light of the World
January 2023

“Families and the Light of the World,” Liahona, Jan. 2023.

For Parents

Families and the Light of the World

family gathered together and smiling

Dear Parents,

The family is an essential part of Heavenly Father’s plan of happiness for His children. The articles in this month’s issue can help you improve communication within families and help navigate challenges in family relationships. You can also use this issue to help you teach children some important lessons from the New Testament.

Gospel Discussions

Jesus Christ Is Our True Light

Share with your family some teachings from President Ballard’s article on page 4 about Jesus Christ’s role as the Light of the World. As a family, make a list of various sources of light in your home and discuss the different things light does for us. In what ways does Jesus Christ, as the greatest source of spiritual light, help us?

Open Communication in Families

It’s important to be spiritually prepared for life’s challenges. On page 12, read some advice from a mental health counselor on how to have important, strengthening conversations with your children. Which of these thoughts and suggestions could you implement with your own family?

Preparing Our Hearts for the Word

Read Brother Camargo’s article on page 38 about the parable of the sower. Discuss with your family what the different soil types in the parable symbolize. Younger children could draw items from the parable and talk about them, and older children could read the parable in Mark 4:3–20 and share their thoughts or questions.

Come, Follow Me Family Fun

Doing Hard Things with God’s Help

Like Mary and her cousin Elisabeth in the New Testament (see Luke 1:5–55), sometimes we are asked to do hard things and may wonder if we can.

  1. Set an empty container, such as a bucket or a box, at one end of the room.

  2. Give each family member a feather.

  3. Starting on the opposite end of the room from the container, have each family member try to get their feather into the container by blowing it to keep it in the air as they cross the room.

  4. To make it more challenging, allow only 30 seconds, and use a straw to blow air on the feather. Continue to decrease the allotted time until the activity becomes impossible.

Discussion: Keeping in mind that some challenges may not be resolved in this life, share an experience that strengthened your testimony that “the things which are impossible with men are possible with God” (Luke 18:27) What small steps can you take each day to achieve tasks in your life that seem impossible?