Rasing Youth to Hold the Priesthood

by Michelle Jones

I am humbled to have the opportunity to speak on such a wonderful day. We are in the midst of amazing fathers of all fashions. The fathers of our families, home teachers, the bishop, the stake patriarch, elders quorum president, high priest group leader (actually he is not back in town yet from adventure camp) even all priesthood bearers. It is that priesthood power I was asked to speak on, and more specifically How to prepare young boys to hold and use the priesthood power. I suppose I can see why the bishop thought I would be a good candidate for this topic do to the distinct male presents in our home.

In order to prepare boys for the priesthood, it is important to know what the priesthood is and how it’s used so they will know what to do with it when they get it.

In the last General Conference President Packer said, (and I quote) “Priesthood is the authority and the power which God has granted to men on earth to act for Him. When priesthood authority is exercised properly, priesthood bearers do what He would do if He were present” (end of quote). That is the what.

Now for how it’s used. It’s used to heal the sick, for blessings of comfort or direction, specifically patriarchal blessings but also baby blessings, beginning of the school year blessings, before going off to college and living on your own, before leaving on a mission, I always receive one before delivery of a baby, we are blessed when called to new callings in the ward, and many more comfort and directional father’s blessings. The church website says, priesthood holders can be authorized to, preach the gospel, administer the ordinances of salvation, and govern the kingdom of God on earth. So missions play a big part. All saving ordinances are done through the priesthood power including baptism, confirmation, the sacrament, and temple ordinances. Even all administrative affairs of the church are governed through the priesthood down to the opening prayer and song for our sacrament meeting which was directed through the power of the priesthood by our bishop.

From the church website it reads, “the most important exercise [or use] of the priesthood takes place in the family. Each husband and father in the church should strive to be worthy to hold the Melchizedek priesthood. With his wife as an equal partner, he presides in righteousness and love, serving as the family’s spiritual leader. He leads the family in regular prayer, scripture study, and family home evening. He works with his wife to teach the children and help them prepare to receive the ordinances of salvation.” In short, it is the means by which God creates, and governs the heavens and worlds without number.

I don’t know about you but that seems like an awful lot for these young boys to learn. How do we teach them? Where do we even begin? A simple to the point answer: in the home! The best way for them to learn is to see the priesthood in action daily, and be able to participate as much as possible. This brings us back to the basics, family prayer, scripture study, family home evening and service.

These are obviously very important things to be doing because we keep coming back to them. They are known as the “primary answers”. Are we doing these regularly in our homes? If not, why? In past years our family has struggled with this. I thought for family home evening I needed to prepare this amazing lesson, complete with stories, pictures, and activity or game and an in-depth lesson that would leave the children changed for life. I have learned that kids don’t change over night. Adults don’t even change over night. We all learn little by little, line upon line. Repetition and daily practice are key factors. It is more important to keep it simple, than trying to make it profound. Let the Spirit teach. That is how we learn anyway. My husband and I know these things are important and we have a desire to follow the counsel of priesthood leaders. That is the first step. Next, how do we accomplish regular scripture study and family home evening?
It has taken years of trial and error, adjusting and readjusting, to come up with our current plan that has worked well for the past 2 years. Which no doubt, will need more adjusting as our boys grow older. I would like to share with you our current plan as an example of how to get started and hopefully save you a few years and some frustration.

I will start with scripture study. Pick a time when every member of your family can be in attendance. Ours is currently at 6:45 am. We wanted to start the day off on the right foot. Our basic outline, 6 days a week, is a handful of things: a Song, read scriptures, memorize, testimony, and family prayer.

It’s more of a family devotional than just scripture study. All of which takes 15 minutes or less. An adult’s attention span on a single subject is 8-10 minutes. We have 5 different subjects in 15 minutes to help them stay attentive.

We all learn through repetition so we do the same song and memorize the same scripture for the entire week or more if necessary. The first week we use the primary scripture and song of the month which can be found on the church website. Week 2 we memorize an article of faith and use a sacrament hymn for the song. This way they can participate in sacrament meetings because they recognize the music and can sing along. The third week we choose a scripture mastery to memorize and another song of our choice from the hymn book or children’s song book. The fourth week is left open for reviewing or catch-up because some scriptures and songs take 2 weeks to memorize.

We start with the song. Music is important. It penetrates to the heart and it is easy to feel the Spirit through music. We wanted to fill their minds with songs so if they were in troubled times it’s there to recall and comfort them. It’s very common in our home to have the boys randomly start singing through out the day. I also found it very helpful to have a song in my mind so when quarreling starts I just start singing and they usually join in. Problem solved.

After the song, each of the boys reads one verse of scripture. David is the only boy that can actually read at this point, the others repeat what we say. And then we (the parents) finish reading through 10 verses. Next, all the boys stand up in a line. We have them stand to get them to move and refocus, it’s just different than sitting, and we recite the scripture for the week, 3 times. At the beginning of the week it’s repeating every 2 words back and forth. Toward the end of the week they repeat 4-5 words and we challenge them to try saying the scripture on their own. It’s amazing how much young children can remember.

Fourth, we have an opportunity to bear testimonies. Last year we had each boy and us as well take a turn. That took too long so this year we changed it to one person per day. Right now it works out perfectly with 6, but when Quinten can talk, we’ll have to adjust. Depending on your family size, each person may get the opportunity 2-3 times per week. Right now for our children, it’s the same basic testimony they have memorized. More or less to establish a habit. With time we anticipate their testimonies growing and becoming their own, being able to expound on their own experiences and feelings.

Fifth, we all kneel together for family prayer and the blessing on the food. The one that bore testimony gets to say the family prayer.

Again, this is not long. 15 minutes max. It’s repetitious and not hard for us as parents to prepare. We do however, go to the extent to print the scripture we are memorizing for the week and tape it to the wall in our kitchen so we can randomly say it through out the day.

Family home evening is not that much different for us. We start with a song, one that goes with the lesson or the one we have been practicing. Someone says the opening prayer and we give a short lesson. Mostly, reading a story from the friend and then talking about it. If there is a game or activity that goes with the lesson then we do that. Next, we introduce the new scripture we will be memorizing for the next week and put the old one in a binder for later review. We close with a song that goes with the lesson or the new song for the coming week and a prayer.

I knew for me, if I’m to do this every day, it has to be simple. And I wanted to feel that my time, and theirs, was well spent. If I was going to put forth the effort I wanted to make sure the boys were going to benefit from it. So it’s structured to their level of learning. All of this is done under the power of the priesthood and our boys are seeing it in action daily.

The other part I mentioned was service. Something that came to my attention when preparing this talk was home teaching. Our boys are not old enough to go yet, but when Khayyam leaves does he take a few moments to tell the boys where he is going so they know and can file it away in their minds? So one day it will click, “oh, home teaching, that’s what father’s and priesthood holders do!” Or is dad just gone and a learning opportunity lost? Something we will be working on.

This also applies to visiting teaching and temple attending and all types of service. Do we, as parents, vocalize what we are doing so children can make a connection? It is also important to take them with you whenever possible, and appropriate. This is the hands-on part. Being home taught is another way children see the priesthood in action. Hopefully you home teachers are coming regularly. But if not, a quick phone call to ask them if they can come over and share a scripture will fix that. They get their home teaching done and your children see the priesthood in action. Win-win situation.

Once again, from the church website, “the most important exercise of the priesthood takes place in the family. As he leads the family in regular prayer, scripture study and family home evening.” This is how children will learn best, and get to see it in action daily. They will know how to lead and care for their own future families if we as parents do our part.

In April’s conference, President Packer said, “now fathers, I would remind you of the sacred nature of your calling. You have the power of the priesthood directly from the Lord to protect your home. There will be times when all that stands as a shield between your family and the adversaries mischief will be that power.”

When I heard that, there arose in me a greater desire and determination to do everything possible to have that shield and protection for my family. I thought why wouldn’t I want to help them stand against the adversary? I know, that once a testimony of family prayer, scripture study, family home evening and service is gained, your outlook on them changes, your heart changes, they become part of you and your daily living. A burden is lifted instead of having to do it, it becomes a get-to. Instead of asking yourself “what’s the point, they aren’t listening anyway?” And “is this really doing any good?” you will know it is doing good and that it will protect your children.

I have a testimony of the priesthood power. It has blessed and literally saved my life. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.