Read Amos 8:11–12. This scripture compares the lack of revelation to a famine.
· • What are the results of a famine? (There is little or no food, people suffer hunger and sickness, and some die.)
· • How long could you live without food? (Accept varied answers.)
· • Have you ever been in a situation where food was not available and you were forced to go hungry for a time? (Accept varied answers.)
· • How did it make you feel? (Accept varied answers.)
We Must Feed Our Spirits
Scripture discussion
Read John 6:35. Explain that Jesus speaks in this scripture about spiritual food, which is as important to our spirits as bread and water are for our bodies.
Illustration
A Latter-day Saint girl tells of a time when she felt hungry for spiritual food. She describes her visit to Germany as part of a high school class member exchange program. She was graciously received into the home of her host family. However, at the end of her first day, she found herself strained by her new surroundings.
“After all the day’s activities I felt very lost to be back in my strange, new bedroom alone. I let myself fall into the puffy softness of the bed. …
“Jet-lag exhaustion caught up with me and I started to cry. The more I cried, the harder I cried, because I didn’t know why I was crying. True, I was separated from my family, but I would be seeing them again in only a month. My new family treated me like a princess, yet still I felt horribly empty and I sensed something had been missed that day. As I lay there crying, feeling helpless and frustrated, I remembered: Today is Sunday. Of course. I had forgotten, but my heart had not, and it had been trying all day to get through to me. I wanted desperately to go to church, but it was far too late by then. So I closed my eyes and went through a typical Sunday at home: family prayer, journal writing, dinner together, classes, and sacrament meeting. …
“This day there had been no routine, no sacrament, and I felt painfully void without it. I knew then that I needed that time. I got to my knees and let the pillow absorb my tears as I asked Heavenly Father for the opportunity to attend an LDS church the following Sunday” (Kirsten Christensen, “A Sunday without the Sacrament,” New Era, Jan. 1986, p. 49). Kirsten’s German family did help her to find a Latter-day Saint Church by the following Sunday.
No comments:
Post a Comment