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Buckets of Love,
Friendship And Joy
By: April Wood
First, I wish to say thank you to the sisters who shared these ideas.
Poster: Cereal Box-cover with aluminum foil (to look like a 1/2 a bucket).
Glue to poster board. Then cut up some tissue paper and stuff the
"bucket". Glue hearts around the poster, as if it had spilled out. Put
some cute clip art around the poster. Then put information on the hearts
for the classes.
Enrichment Reminder: first Sunday: Poster
2nd Sunday: Handout (see attachment)
Sunday before: placed some small candies
on red plastic spoons and tied it up with tulle and attached the following
(copied onto bright colored paper)
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MAKE ME A SPOON!
Did you ever compare your Christian service to silverware? All
silverware is made to serve, but the different pieces serve in
different ways. Forks stab. "This is mine," they say. Bits of meat,
carrots, pickles, salad and cheese. "This, this and this are mine,"
says the fork. "Everything for me, me, me." And soon every last
morsel on the plate has been pinned by the spear of the selfish
fork. Knives cut. "Too big," says the knife. Slice. Cut. Chop. Dice.
Everything must change its shape to satisfy the whim of the knife.
Nothing is right as it is. Everything needs paring down, carving or
separating. Spoons serve: cereal, soup, peas -- all the impossible
foods can be handled comfortably from the smooth bowl of the spoon.
Spoons say, "Here, let me help you. We can manage together."
MAKE ME A SPOON, LORD!
-- Author Unknown |
Hymn: (I pick a sister who gets to choose her favorite hymn, this time we
sang "Count your Many Blessings"
Lesson: Read this Church News/October 1, 1988 - Too Hurried To Serve
In his monthly ward news letter recently, an effective, dedicated young
bishop wrote of a group of religion instructors taking a summer course on
the life of the Savior and focusing particularly on the parables.
When final exam time came, the bishop wrote, the students arrived at the
classroom to find a note that the exam would be given in another building
across campus. Moreover, the note said, it must be finished within the
two- hour time period that was starting at that moment.
The students hurried across campus. On the way they passed a little girl
crying over a flat tire on her new bike. An old man hobbled painfully
toward the library with a cane in one hand, spilling books from a stack he
was trying to manage with the other. On a bench by the union building sat
a shabbily dressed, bearded man with a sign: "I need money to eat. Please
help me". Rushing into the other classroom, the students were met by the
professor, who announced they had all flunked the final exam.
The only true test of whether they understood the Savior's life and
teaching, he said, was how they treated the people in need. Their weeks
of study at the feet of a capable professor had taught them a great deal
of what Christ has sand and done. But nothing they learned in class stuck
as effectively as the lesson from the professor's staged "exam."
So it may be with us. Thousands of Latter-day Saints are assembled on
Temple Square this week for General Conference of the Church. Hundreds of
thousands more will participate by broadcasts. They will be taught by
masters, anointed servants taught in detail how they can conduct their
lives in accordance with that word.
They have hurried to get here; the world is so much with us that it takes
hurrying just to keep up. They will hurry home, they will hurry through
their daily tasks so they can find time to share with families and
neighbors and congregations the inspirations of the conference. But with
all they have learned and will learn, they may in their hurry, if they are
not careful, flunk the final exam.
The Bishop's newsletter message went on: "You and I, like those religion
instructors, profess to follow the teaching of Jesus. We have voluntarily
taken upon ourselves His name. We are admonished to bear one another's
burdens, mourn with those that mourn and comfort those who stand in need
of comfort." (see Mosiah 18:8-9)
Each day, he wrote, we meet people in need-an accident victim, someone
trying to move a heavy load, an elderly couple with an un-raked lawn or
un-shoveled walk, a woman standing by a stranded car, a stranger seeking
direction, a vagrant seeking pocket change. Such needs are easy to
recognize. Usually it is not too difficult to help. The unseen and often
more urgent need is the one we are more likely to pass by.
We don't see, unless we are looking, the need of a husband whose care for
an invalid wife makes it impossible to leave the house on routine errands
unless someone comes in to sit with her. We don't see the loneliness of
the once- vibrant elderly woman no longer able to attend the meetings and
enjoy the sociability she so much loved. Or the quiet despair and need for
loving support of the mother agonizing over a wayward child. Or the hunger
for friendship of the man sitting sullenly alone, not able to make the
moves to achieve companionship.
Those in too much of a hurry to attend to the routines of living, or even
the routines of administering the affairs of the wards and stakes of the
Church, too hurried to listen for silent calls for help, fail to meet what
Christ so clearly taught is our major responsibility.
More than anyone else, service to others blesses the giver. Through
habits of service and thinking of others, we develop qualities of
sensitivity and generosity. We become more aware of and grateful for our
own blessings. We become more filled with love and brotherhood. We become
more like Christ. And that, ultimately, is what the final exam is about.
Each sister was given a small red bucket (Dixie cup painted red with a
silver pipe cleaner for a handle).
Room #1 THE WORLD- Cultural Music was playing in the background and she
had items placed around the room from various countries. She talked about
the Humanitarian Program and the items that were needed. We then put
together kits to send in.
Room #2 THE COMMUNITY - Displayed pictures of service on the wall (from
branch library). She had handouts from various organizations in the area
needing volunteers and challenged us to sign up to provide service at one
of these places...I was going to serve at an animal shelter, but knew I
would be in tears the whole time or would end up taking all the animals
home with me...so instead I am going once a week to a Seniors Nursing Home
(hmmm better be careful I might end up taking some of them home...). We
then did a tie quilt for the local women’s shelter (we had also brought in
items they needed so boxed them up as well).
Room #3 THE FAMILY- Church music was playing in the background and
pictures on the wall were of families. We discussed different ways to
serve in our families. We put together a FHE lesson on service about the
"Grouchy House" (copy at the end of this email) and made envelopes and
made heart shaped punchies (enough for each family member). At their FHE
they will give the lesson and hand out the envelopes. When someone does an
act of service for a family member they leave a "heart punchy".
 In each room they received small heart shaped candies to put in their
buckets. I pointed out how at first their buckets were empty, but now
after only a few small acts of service they were full, just like the Lord
fills our buckets with blessings for the acts of service we do no matter
what they may be.
We didn’t have any refreshments because we were having a fireside on
"Strengthening Families" an hour after this meeting so we had to set up
for that and were having refreshments after the fireside. All the sisters
had a fantastic time and have a greater desire to serve.
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