Show Notes for Episode 2 of Teach Me to Walk in the Light Podcast. Learn why you should be setting goals and how to teach your kids why they should too. Also learn an important teaching tip from comedian and inspirational speaker, Michael Jr., on how knowing your why impacts your what.
PERSONAL STUDY
It’s fun to make new goals and think about all the things you want to do and accomplish – the 10 pounds you know you will for sure lose this year! Or that marathon you are determined to run.
The sad part about making goals is when the newness and excitement wears off and reality sets in. The goal starts to get tough and soon you find yourself not doing anything towards your goal until eventually, you forget what your goal was to begin with.
SOOOO WHY?
WHY do we set goals? What’s the point? Why do we do it?
President Kimball once said, “We do believe in setting goals. We live by goals….We must have goals to make progress.” (Regional Representatives’ seminar, 3 Apr. 1975).
Goals are so we can make progress – but what progress are we trying to make? What is our ultimate goal? Hopefully, that is an easy one for you. Although we are all different with different ambitions, our ultimate goal should be the same – which is eternal life and exaltation.
That’s Heavenly Father’s goal too. In Moses 1:39 it says: “For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man”
He is working towards that goal and we should too.
Think of it this way –
What happens if we don’t have any goals? Not even the ultimate goal of eternal life? What if it’s just a nice thought but nothing we are consciously really working towards? Would that have an impact on our lives?
It reminds me of Pres. Monson’s talk (“Choices” in April 2016) – the one where he mentions Alice in Wonderland and the part in the movie where she comes to a crossroads with two paths in front of her, each going in two opposite directions. As she contemplates which way to turn, she is confronted by the Cat and Alice asks the Cat, “Which path should I take?” and the cat answers, “That depends where you want to go. If you do not know where you want to go, it doesn’t matter which path you take.”
Then Pres. Monson said, “Unlike Alice, we know where we want to go, and it does matter which way we go, for the path we follow in this life leads to our destination in the next life.”
How important it is that we know where we are going and we make it our goal. If we don’t, then in reality, I guess we really don’t care what path our lives take and we could very well find ourselves wandering around and eventually on a path that leads us away from our Father in Heaven.
But as Pres. Monson said, we do know where we want to go and the path we choose in this life leads to our destination in the next.
How important it is to make it our goal and then be focused on that goal. When we are focused we will naturally line ourselves up on the path we need to take to get there.
By being focused we can better evaluate ourselves to know if at some point we start veering off. Because what happens if we veer off the path that leads to our goal?
I’m going to let President Uchtdorf answer that question in this story that he shares:
[To watch the video clip of the story, click HERE]
The success or failure of this life depends upon having our eyes fixed upon our ultimate goal – our ultimate destination – and then setting smaller goals in order to progress towards that bigger goal. The New Year is a great time to evaluate ourselves on a spiritual level and decide what goals we should be making to keep us on course towards our ultimate destination so that we don’t start veering off. We all make mistakes, we all get off course at times but I love what Pres. Uchtdorf also said about this in his talk.
He said:
“…the heavens will not be filled with those who never made mistakes but with those who recognized that they were off course and who corrected their ways to get back in the light of gospel truth.”
My challenge to you this week is to evaluate yourself and decide on a spiritual goal that you can work on this year. Perhaps it’s to spend more time reading your scriptures, becoming a full tithe payer, working on your marriage or relationship with another family member.
You know what’s great is that you CAN pray to your Heavenly Father and He can help you come up with a goal that is perfect for you. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He has promised that He will make our weak things become strong.
FHE [9:12]
SONG:
Hymn Improve the Shining Moments #226
Primary Song: Choose the Right Way
ATTENTION GETTER/ACTIVITY:
Tell your family you’re going to start with a game and give each family member a random game piece from a variety of games. For example, give one person money from monopoly and another person checker pieces. Then tell them to go ahead and play. Don’t give them any instructions or directions, just wait.
It won’t take them long to start commenting and asking questions and just confused about what’s going on.
Give them a few seconds- let them be confused- and then discuss how hard it is to play a game when you don’t know what the ultimate goal of the game is. When you don’t know the point or goal of the game, you don’t know how to win.
SCRIPTURE:
Tell or summarize Lehi’s dream found in 1 Nephi 8.
Discuss how unlike the game you just tried to play, we know what our goal in life is and that is to reach the Tree of Life and the Iron Rod shows us how to do that.
You can also mention how Heavenly Father’s goal is also for us to obtain eternal life (Moses 1:39)
LESSON:
Discuss the importance of setting goals each year so that we can be sure we are progressing towards our ultimate goal of reaching the Tree of Life and returning to live with our Heavenly Father.
If we don’t make goals, then it’s easier for us to get off the straight and narrow path that leads us there.
SHOW video clip of Pres. Uchtdorf’s talk where he shares the story of the airplane crash.
Talk about what happened in the story and how that can relate to us and the importance of each year setting new goals that will make sure we stay on the path that will get us back to our Father in Heaven.
You could also ask them this question that Pres. Uchtdorf asked in his talk and wait for their answer before sharing Pres. Uchtdorf’s answer.
This is what he asked, quote:
“Suppose you were to take off from an airport at the equator, intending to circumnavigate the globe, but your course was off by just one degree. By the time you returned to the same longitude, how far off course would you be? A few miles? A hundred miles? The answer might surprise you. An error of only one degree would put you almost 500 miles (800 km) off course, or one hour of flight for a jet.”
DISCUSSION
Have everyone give examples of goals someone might make to help them progress towards returning back to Heavenly Father and then challenge them this week to come up with a goal that they feel they could work on and encourage them to pray about it because next week they’ll learn how to achieve their goals.
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TEACHING TIP [13:30]
For the Know Your Why teaching tip, click HERE
#taketimeforfamily [16:06]
Make a Winter Bucket List. Get a whiteboard or just a piece of paper and make a list of like 10-15 things your family wants to do this winter. Then each week, as you plan your week, plan one activity off the Family’s Winter Bucket List. Your kids will love it.
As you do these things – take photos and post them on Instagram or Facebook using the hashtag: #taketimeforfamily
Let’s totally fill the Social Media World with examples of spending quality time with our families!
One suggestion I have to put on your winter bucket list is…
SNOW
Kids LOVE snow and they love it even more when mom or dad is actually out in the snow with them. Build a snowman, build a snow fort, go sledding, or have a snowball fight.
If you live where there isn’t any snow, perhaps try out these fun indoor snowballs. Have a snowball fight your kids will never forget 🙂 Click HERE
If you have any fun ideas that you like to do with your family in the winter time – I’d love to hear them. Simply email me at melanieslibrary@gmail.com and in the subject line put #taketimeforfamily and maybe I’ll sure your idea on an episode.
Be sure and check out next week’s episode where I’ll give 3 Tips to Achieving Your Goals.
Yours Truly,
P.S. You can sign up for my monthly Finding JOY Newsletter and receive updates on all the latest episodes along with inspiring gospel-related resources delivered right to your inbox! Helping you be the most effective teacher you can be at home and in your calling.
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