This month I’ve been sharing the basics of a process of thinking and communicating called Nonviolent Communication (NVC) also known as Compassionate Communication. Today I want to talk about how family home evening and family scripture study are strategies that are intended to meet a variety of human needs.
In NVC, people think in terms of feelings, needs, and strategies. Family home evening (FHE) and family scripture study (FSS) are definitely strategies. In the 1915 First Presidency letter inaugurating family home evening as a Church program, it states that the program is being encouraged in order to follow the Lord’s commandment for parents to teach their children and for children to honor their parents. In NVC speak, parents have a need to contribute to their children’s lives, and setting up a consistent time to share their most precious spiritual beliefs and experiences definitely supports parents in feeling that they are trying to contribute to their children’s lives.
But what other needs could be met through FHE and FSS? How about the need to belong or the need for fun? How about the need to learn or the need to matter? How about the need to connect and feel loved?
One of my favorite quotes by a Church leader was said by President Packer more than once:
The ultimate end of all activity in the Church is that a man and his wife and their children can be happy at home.
I wonder if we see the Church in that light. Do we see all Church activity as having the intention of supporting us in creating happiness in our homes? Specifically, do FHE and FSS support you in being happier at home? The way we do them at our house definitely supports us in sharing happy times together. But that is because we keep things
- Short
- Simple
- Practical
With my book FHEasy, family home evening and scripture study are never hard to do at my house! They so easily weave into our family meals that it’s just as easy to do them as it is not to! And the ROI (Return on Investment) is high. The kids learn a lot. We laugh a lot. We talk a lot. We play a lot. We have time set aside to do things we would otherwise forget to do like show mission and baby pictures, play with play dough, sing and dance together, and teach Church history. They are beautiful traditions for us because of our mindset and easy-to-be-consistent-with habits.
How about you? Do you love FHE and FSS? If so, please share what you do! If not, why not?
I enjoy our family traditions a ton and hope everyone gets to the point where they too enjoy …
Happy Home Evenings!
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