Jenny's blog

Abraham and Isaac

Today I woke up in a panic — I was sure that today’s lesson was on Rebekah, and I wasn’t prepared. So I thought: “Meh, I’ll just fake it,” and went back to sleep.

Yes, I really am that wicked.

Then I woke up again a few minutes later worrying about Rebekah and what a bad person I am. And then I remembered that I was actually covering Abraham and Isaac, and that I was actually probably over-prepared.

I came downstairs at 6:01, and I could hear the kids sitting on the couches in the dark discussing how they were going to jump out and scare me from the library. LOL. I guess we left the basement door unlocked and so the kids just let themselves in.

Today we sang Follow the Prophet — the kids like that one, and it has a verse about Abraham and Isaac. I’ve got to figure out a way to choose songs that does not involve me coming up with one at 6:05 every morning. I have let the kids choose on occasion, but last time I did that, we sang “Once there was a Snowman” with the kids standing on their chairs doing the full actions.

And I was totally okay with that.

Probably that’s because I did the actions, too. :)

I figure it’s probably not a good thing, that I think “Once there Was a Snowman” is a perfectly acceptable way to begin a gospel study class. I know that the song is supposed to set the tone for what’s to come: spiritual awesomeness, hopefully. So I need a way to pick out some more spiritual songs.

We can end with Snowman, tho. :-P

One teacher at inservice said her class writes down three favorites at the beginning of the year, and then she chooses from those for class. Some do student favorites. Later in the year we will learn “The Lord is my Shepherd,” but for now I’m in a rut. Maybe I’ll have the kids name favorites when we have time during Friday’s lesson.

The lesson went pretty well, I thought. This was the first time I have really had my kids chase in the scriptures. We flipped back and forth between the Abraham/Isaac account and different scriptures in the Old and New Testaments. even the Pearl of Great Price (hello, flashback). They held up pretty well. This section was just too important to have Delilah flying about or something like that. I even bawled at the end bearing my testimony. I used the Old Testament Prophets in Similitude of Jesus Christ paper and the handout on Abraham and Isaac from the CES teacher website to provide the scriptures. I had the kids write in the scripture references I thought were important on their Similitude handout. Most were from the New Testament.

I’m not an every day testimony bearer. I prefer to save up for something that really matters to me. Today’s lesson was about the Atonement, and that matters. So I spilled it and cried.

It was a little awkward at the end when my class comic relief made some joke right after my Amen. Some of the kids just looked at me with pity — he was kind of out of line. But my feelings weren’t hurt. These are kids after all. Some times I’ll reach one. Other times I’ll reach others. The kid who said the closing prayer was clearly influenced. And my testimony of Jesus Christ was strengthened again.

Tomorrow it’s Rebekah. I will have to go look over my lesson jic it’s not quite ready. We are doing a side-by-side comparison of Worldly and Godly love, based on some notes I took during a Relief Society lesson a while ago.

Posted by Jenny Smith

I'm Jenny Smith. I blog about life on the 300+ acres of rolling farmland in Northern Virginia where I live. I like tomatoes, all things Star Trek, watercolor, and reading. I spend most days in the garden fighting deer and groundhogs while trying to find my life's meaning. I'm trying to be like Jesus -- emphasis on the trying.