Scripture or Quote:
"We encourage you wherever you may live in the world to prepare for adversity by looking to the condition of your finances. We urge you to be modest in your expenditures; discipline yourselves in your purchases to avoid debt. . . . If you have paid your debts and have a financial reserve, even though it be small, you and your family will feel more secure and enjoy greater peace in your hearts."
—The First Presidency, All Is Safely Gathered In: Family Finances, Feb. 2007, 1
Purpose:
We have been counseled to set aside a small financial reserve for emergencies. This lesson will help your family develop a plan to achieve that goal.
Opening Song: Thy Holy Word – H 279
Lesson:
The basic principles taught to us by the church about finances include:
Pay Tithes and Offerings
Avoid Debt
Use a Budget
Build a Reserve
Teach Family Membres
President Gordon B. Hinckley has taught: “Set your houses in order. If you have paid your debts, if you have a reserve, even though it be small, then should storms howl about your head, you will have shelter for your wives and children and peace in your hearts” ("To the Boys and to the Men," Ensign, Nov. 1998, 54).
Gradually build a financial reserve, and use it for emergencies only. If you save a little money regularly, you will be surprised how much accumulates over time.
One of those most important skills is that of preparing for a rainy day, a day of potential scarcity. Our dear beloved President Faust spoke of those rainy days in the General Conference of April 1986:
Frugality requires that we live within our income and save a little for a rainy day, which always seems to come. It means avoiding debt and carefully limiting credit purchasing. It is important to learn to distinguish between wants and needs. It takes self-discipline to avoid the “buy now, pay later”philosophy and to adopt the “save now and buy later” practice (see insert, Ensign, Sep 2007).
Speaking of frugality either brings moans or joy; it never seems to bring both. It's truly all in how we approach it.
Our children will long remember how we teach this lesson. And it is much more than the "Is the cup half full or half empty" approach. Once a person grasps the full range and benefit of frugal living, there is no going back
Hymn #279 lists D&C 18:34-36 as a cross reference. Here is the scripture to read out loud with your family.
These words are not of men nor of man, but of me; wherefore, you shall testify they are of me and not of man;
For it is my voice which speaketh them unto you; for they are given by my Spirit unto you, and by my power you can read them one to another; and save it were by my power you could not have them;
Wherefore, you can testify that you have heard my voice, and know my words.
Open up the discussion to explore thoughts on what this scripture means. Remember that there are not necessarily "right" or "wrong" answers, only "important" answers — in other words, things that strike each individual as significant. Explore these as a family.
Next, ask what this scripture has to do with trusting the Lord's living oracles, the prophets.
Allow family members to share their thoughts.
Activity:
To open children's minds as to the importance of preparing, you could play the following two familiar games, but with an important twist. Be patient while the children participate, because the feelings of "losing" will be important when you teach the actual spiritual purpose of the activity. Ask everyone to play "nice", because there is a purpose to the games.
Musical Chairs
Items needed:
chairs (one less than there are family members)
music player (with a remote, if possible)
Place chairs in a circle or a line. Make sure there is one fewer chair than there are family members. As long as the music plays, the family walks around the chairs. As soon as the music randomly stops, each person needs to find a free chair to sit on. The person left without a chair must now wait out the rest of the game. Remove one chair. Repeat until you have only one chair and one winner.
Without explaining, move immediately to the next game.
Mine, All Mine
Items needed:
toys (one fewer than there are family members)
music player (with a remote, if possible)
Scatter a variety of toys on a table top or on the floor. Again, start the music and the players walk around the table or the floor. When the music randomly stops, instruct everyone to grab a toy. The person without a toy now must sit out the rest of the game. Remove one toy. Repeat until you have only one toy and one winner.*
Application:
Have everyone return to their seats. Ask how it felt to be standing without a chair or without a toy. Allow the family members to vent any frustrations or to share any difficulties they had with the moment.
Read the following quote from the insert found in the September 2007 Ensign:
Perhaps no counsel has been repeated more often than how to manage wisely our income ... Too many in the Church have failed to avoid unnecessary debt. They have little, if any financial reserve. The solution is to budget, to live within our means, and to save some for the future (President Thomas S. Monson, Ensign, Sep 1986, 3).
Then ask questions similar to, "What can we do to ensure this never happens to our family?" and "How can we make sure we will always have sufficient for our needs?" Make a list of suggestions the family comes up with.
Ask the family if they would support a family fast in September. The purpose would be to explore how best to prepare the family in frugal preparedness approaches so that food and finances will never run out.
Invite the family to think on these things and to come to the next FHE with any additional ideas or suggestions or personal sacrifices they could proffer to make a difference.
Ask what this quote might have to do with the games just played. What is it like when resources run out? What kinds of feelings result?
Closing Song: Keep the Commandments – CSB 146
Treat:
String cheese would be a fun refreshment at the end of this FHE. Show the kids how you can pull a tiny string from the main part of the cheese and then eat it. String cheese is fun, because the more carefully and thinly you pull a string off, the more there seems to be to go around. While snacking on the strings, ask how this is like a smart family who carefully prepares for the future.
Prepared by the Harrisville 2nd Ward EP Committee
Source: www.meridianmagazine.com/familyhome/070829bondage.html
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