I teach a Sunday School class every other week and this week's lesson was the first half of Chapter 4 from Preach My Gospel, "How Do I Recognize and Understand the Spirit?" In an attempt to bring home the point of listening to the Spirit through all the noise we face in the world, I used an object lesson. Before class, I stopped one of the members aside in the hallway and said, "Every time I touch my neck tie during the lesson, I want you to casually say 'Thomas.' I won't even acknowledge that you've said it. In fact, I'll pretend I don't even hear it."
As class started, I told the students that if they listen, they'll know my middle name by the end of the hour. I then proceeded to give my lesson and probably touched my necktie 6 or 7 times during class. I heard every vocalization of "Thomas." At the end, I asked the class what my middle name was and only the person sitting next to the guy I recruited figured it out. One of the ladies in the class said she'd assumed the guy saying "Thomas" was just going crazy. Others thought someone was just talking to one of the children in the room.
It ended up working really well because I got to share that last principle: Everyone in that class was told at the beginning to simply listen and they'll hear my middle name. But few actually got it. There's a lot of "static" in the world and we really have to focus on what the Spirit sounds and feels like to each of us. Otherwise we'll never hear. Or we'll be like Amulek who said he was "called many times but [he] would not hear..." (Alma 10:5-6).
5 comments:
That's an awesome object lesson. Where'd you come up with that? Think of an object lesson for me this week will ya? I have to teach lesson 19 out of the Joseph Smith manual. If you think of anything, let me know. :) I'm always trying to think of good object lessons and can never think of them when I need um.
Lindsey
That's great Jess. Our ward is in need of a few good teachers. We are starting a teacher development course in our ward because the ward is in such great need of good teachers. The only problem is that Mike can't think of anyone to teach the class. The people that could teach the class are already in callings that would keep them from doing it.
I thought of that object lesson during Sacrament Meeting before my class. I was trying to do something besides being the talking drone...
I've been through the teacher development course before. It was excellent, but mostly because we had an excellent teacher doing the course. I've been in part of another and the teacher himself should have been in the course, not teaching it.
Great object lesson! I have done other object lessons showing this same thing, but I think this was even more effective because of the subtle, quiet way it was done.
I love to teach. I learn more than the students and it gives me a creative outlet. I have creativity in that field but no creativity whatsoever in my current calling as Enrichment Leader. Different parts of the brain, I guess.
Great job and thanks for sharing the idea!
Mom
Our enrichment group is doing a "Walk to Zion" activity where for every minute of exercise they do over a certain time frame, they get to count it as a mile. The idea is to exercise as many minutes as there are miles between Nauvoo and SLC.
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