Fisher Family Traditions: Family Time

I've always found it important to re-evaluate the way we do things and make changes as necessary (which should be normal, really, if we're repenting as we should).  However, when we think we've got a good idea we tend to want to hold onto it.  One of our favorite family traditions is something call Family Time.

Family Time is a lot like Family Home Evening, except that it's simpler and we do it every day.  In the Church we've repeatedly been counseled to pray together daily as a family and to read scriptures together daily.  We've also been counseled that music invites the Holy Ghost.  These things are the foundation of Family Time.

A while back we also picked up a part I called "gathering".  With that added in, here's how our tradition goes before the kids' bedtime:

Gathering consists of tidying up the living room (which helps Mama to keep the house clean) and then sitting reverently while I play some music on the piano (generally from the Children's Songbook).  I explain to the kids that when we're reverent, we listen to the Holy Ghost, and I sometimes ask what the Holy Ghost told them.  I figure that by practicing reverence at home, the kids will be better at being reverent at church and at other appropriate times.

After gathering, we sing a song together.  For now this is usually from the Children's Songbook instead of the Hymnal.  Sometimes we sing a song that we don't know well, and occasionally one that none of us has even heard before.  If we need to, one of the parents speaks a line of the lyrics before we sing them.  We then read several verses of scripture.  The passage could be as short as two verses (not very often at all) or even a whole chapter (also not very often), though usually it's closer to five or six verses.  The length of the passage is not really important; mostly we want to talk about whatever idea or ideas are contained in the given passage.  We've been reading the Book of Mormon from the beginning, and after a few years we're almost through 3 Nephi.  We give everyone a chance to "read"; the younger kids repeat back the words of a verse as a parent reads them. (At one point our three-year old displayed some unwillingness to participate; we used his natural sense of possessiveness to our advantage.  We ask, "Who gets to read Marshall's verse?" to which he happily raises his hand and says, "Me!"  It works almost without fail.)  As the kids participate this way they're also practicing their skills with either reading or memory.  Depending on what the passage, we might even act out what we've read so that the kids can better understand.  After we've read scripture we pray.  For this prayer we kneel in a circle, and lately we've taken to also holding hands as well.

We try to keep up the tradition even when it's not convenient, such as when travelling.  We've even had Family Time in the van.  Sometimes we cut it a little bit short if necessary, though I'm always wary of selling ourselves short.  The kids are accustomed to it and prod us as well.  When we've wanted to keep it short by just having a family prayer, our sweet little three-year-old reminds us that we "forgot to read scriptures".  Because of his encouragement, I've made sure to make the effort to read together even if it's late.

When we get the opportunity, we invite others to participate in our Family Time.  It's a treat for us, and it provides a missionary experience as well when our guests are not members of the Church.  I think it's one of the best ways to bring the Holy Ghost to people.

And, on Mondays, we have Family Home evening, which at a minimum also includes an opening prayer and a lesson but often also involves testimonies, an activity, and a treat.

Last thoughts for now:
Family Time is a wonderful tradition for us.  I know that our family and our individual children are strengthened because of it.  The kids expect it, and while we still need a lot of practice being reverent, they're learning a bit every day.  I'm grateful for the counsel of living prophets and am glad that we've found a good tradition by which we can obey that counsel.

A Mighty Change of Heart

All three speakers in church  today taught about reverence.  It's a theme that the bishop has addressed more than once recently.  The talks were very much of an instructive nature, with particular direction given, such as statements that we should arrive early to our meetings and not carry on casual conversation in the chapel.  In other words, we were told to do something because we (as a whole) need to change what we are doing.

Without a doubt, the following are true:
Only some who heard were really listening.
Only some who really listened identified themselves as needing to change.
Only some who knew they needed to change made a determination to take specific action to cause that change.

I taught the teachers today about the change of heart we need to experience as we give Jesus Christ's Atonement power in our lives.  We read scriptures that taught us that we must have "a broken heart and a contrite spirit" (2 Nephi 2:7), "godly sorrow [that] worketh repentance to salvation" (2 Corinthians 7:10), and "a mighty change in[...]our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually." (Mosiah 5:2)  Though I don't claim to have experienced this entirely, I have felt the power of the Christ's Atonement in my life as it has changed my disposition to no longer desire things I used to desire, and it's wonderful.  I intend to keep pursuing that change.

It seems to me (though I don't want to misjudge anyone) that many people enter into patterns of living that are comfortable to them and then don't take action to change in any way.  I cannot accept such a thing in my life; I know that I need to change because I'm imperfect and I need to repent.  That's a very broad statement, but I do hear specific words from church leaders or church members, and I feel specific guidance from the Holy Ghost, that make it clear that I need to do something I'm not already doing, start doing something that I'm not doing, or do something differently.  I'd better be changing; if I'm not changing, I'm not progressing--I'm not learning!

Sometimes it's hard to hear that what we're doing is wrong.  Sometimes it's actually very hard to hear that the way we do things somehow *isn't* the best way of doing things.  We have to be of a mind to take instruction willingly and give up habits or methods to which we have become attached, thus possessing the so-important "broken heart and a contrite spirit".  We have to give up our desires and our attachments, and that's why we are told multiple times in scripture that a broken heart and a contrite spirit is the type of sacrifice that we need to make.  (Psalms 51:17, 3 Nephi 9:20, Doctrine and Covenants 59:8)  To be willing to make that sacrifice is to be teachable; it's being humble.  Showing that willingness and humility definitely falls into the category of "pursuits that are difficult but worthwhile".

It can be very hard, but it ought to be hard.  Otherwise, it wouldn't be a "mighty" change of heart.

Last thoughts for now:
I'm grateful for God's mercy in teaching me so much in the past and I trust Him to continually direct me in His wisdom.  Sometimes it will be a stinging blow to my pride, but every time He gives me direction I know it will be for my own benefit.  I hope to often make the sacrifice of a broken heart and a contrite spirit.  I believe in learning and growing.  I know that it is only through the Atonement of Jesus Christ that we can repent and be like Him.