June Sharing Time - I Can Prepare Now to Be Worthy to Enter the Temple

Elder Russell M. Nelson said, "Each holy temple stands as a symbol of our membership in the Church, as a sign of our faith in life after death, and as a sacred step toward eternal glory for us and our families."

Keep this in mind as you are prayerfully preparing for this weeks lesson.  Temples are amazing and what we are blessed to do there so much more so.

After singing, "I Love to See the Temple" again, make sure the kids understand what sacred means as you discuss their sacred duty.  You've probably already talked about it this month, but I'd suggest asking again, framing it like a pop quiz to make sure they understand and can word an answer for themselves. 

Then, tell them you've hidden some puzzle pieces around the room that will give them principles they can use to prepare for the temple.

Just as an aside, the Sharing Time Outline asks you to talk about the For the Strength of Youth pamphlet...I'm not sure why.  In primary we have My Gospel Standards, why don't we use them more?  Does anyone know?  I tried to look up and see if they have discontinued using them, we still have the poster in our primary room, but I couldn't find anything definitive one way or the other.  Because I really like My Gospel Standards, because they're in our primary room, and because I really like them, I'm going to focus this section on them instead of For the Strength of Youth.

I thought I'd take a picture of a "Future Temple Recommend" like this one I found as part of a temple dedication countdown packet, print it full page size, cut it up into puzzle pieces, write some My Gospel Standards on the back, and hide them around the primary room before the children arrive.

You can find a copy of the standards on lds dot org and the temple recommend that I've blown up on google docs.  I wouldn't use every standard, choose the ones you feel apply best to the lesson (and that your children need to hear), maybe six or so.  The number of pieces really depends on how long you want this section to last; less pieces, less time.

As a child brings one piece to the front, have them read it to the rest of the primary and tell one way that principle helps them prepare to enter the temple when they are twelve years old (and continue to enter it throughout their entire lives!!).

After you finish, you can either end here or do the last section, passing around the different drawings you can find on lds dot org.  I think this would work well in both primaries, but especially in junior primary.  The kids love to be active and involved in everything that goes on.

Sometimes, when thinking about all we are supposed to do, about all the mistakes I make, I get a little discouraged.  Then, almost as if by accident, I come across a quote like this from Elder Nelson:

"One day we will meet our Maker and stand before Him at Judgement.  We will be judged according to our ordinances, covenants, deeds, and the desires of our hearts."

It is not just the covenants we make, the ordinances we participate in or the things we choose to do (or not), we will also be judged by our heart.  By what we truly want.  I want so much to do better, to be able to feel the love of my Father in Heaven everyday and to live with Him again.  To know that those feelings count, means a lot.

Have a wonderful sharing time!

Leah