October Primary Sharing Time - "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" Came From God to Help My Family

I've been thinking about this weeks sharing time for a few weeks.  I've read through the outline a few times, but finally sat down today to iron out my plans.

My first thought as I re-read the outline was that I wanted to start with a really great quote from one of our modern day prophets about the importance of prophets and their continuing revelation.

My second thought, as I started my search was my thankfulness for the internet.  Seriously.  How in the world did we figure out anything before the internet?  Okay, okay, I know how, I'm not that young, but it was so much more time consuming than tapping a few keys. 

After a minute or two of looking, I came across a FANTASTIC article by President Uchtdorf.  Aptly, it is titled, "Why Do We Need Prophets?"  The whole article is wonderful, but I've decided to start out talking about the Ten Commandments as suggested, discussing revelation just a little and then read my quote.  Along with being both wonderful and fantastic, the article is SHORT, so take a minute, read it over and decide what your primary most needs to hear.

President Uchtdorf said, "Today is not different from ages past. The Lord does not love the people of our day any less than in past times. One of the glorious messages of the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ is that God continues to speak to His children! He is not hidden in the heavens but speaks today as He did in ancient days."

I will then ask the kids to give me some examples.  How is God speaking to us today through our prophets?  If no one mentions the Family Proclamation, I'll add that in, although we have been talking about it a lot so I'll be surprised if no one mentions it.

We'll then discuss it's purpose.  Why were our modern day prophets and apostles inspired to issue it?

I love the idea of breaking up the Proclamation and having the kids pick songs that go with it.

I'll make sure to pick up some song books from the library and maybe even quickly review how to use an index as we're passing them out so they have an easier time finding songs on their own. 

I also think I might mix the classes up, at least in junior primary, so there are older kids who can lead the younger ones as opposed to the teachers doing it on their own.  We'll do something simple like count off and then quickly switch seats.

Here are some ideas I came up with based on a few sentences I pulled out of the Proclamation:

IN THE PREMORTAL REALM, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshiped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize his or her divine destiny as an heir of eternal life.

I Lived in Heaven (#4); Thanks to Our Father (#20); The World Is So Lovely (#233);

HUSBAND AND WIFE have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. “Children are an heritage of the Lord” (Psalms 127:3).

Love Is Spoken Here (#190); Where Love Is (#138)

Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, to teach them to love and serve one another, to observe the commandments of God and to be law-abiding citizens wherever they live.

Teach Me to Walk in the Light (#177); When We're Helping (#198); Quickly I'll Obey (#197)

THE FAMILY is ordained of God.

Because God Loves Me (#234); Here We Are Together (#261);

By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children.

The Dearest Names (#208); Fathers (#209)

Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities.

The Dearest Names (#208); Family Night (#195); 

There are many more songs that would fit and many of these are interchangeable.  I looked up a few just in case a class is well and truly stymied.  Although I'll first try to help (or have a teacher help) them by showing them where to look in the book.

Having given the ideas, I feel I do need to say that I plan to let the kids choose what they want as long as they can somehow show how it links to the sentence. 

Even if it's a bit off base.  Why?

I see the point of this exercise to be getting their juices flowing, get them really thinking about what the Proclamation means and thereby, hopefully, more deeply understand how it can affect their lives if they live it.  That will only happen as they thoughtfully choose their own songs. 

Even if the thoughtfulness goes into trying to explain how a song that might not seem to fit on the surface does work.

I'll close with one more quote from President Uchtdorf, "Brothers and sisters, God does speak to us today. And He desires that all His children listen to and heed His voice. As we do so, the Lord will bless and uphold us greatly, both in this life and through the worlds to come."

I love augmenting my closing testimony with that of our leaders.  Love it.  It helps me to feel the spirit and more easily share it with the rest of the primary.

Good luck on your week!
Leah