Spiritual Bag of . . .

So our beloved Kelsey Kaye likes to make sure that we have Family Home Evening. For those that are not familiar with FHE, this is a Mormon practice and basically refers to a time that the family gathers together on Monday nights to have a prayer, sing a song and have a spiritual lesson (or at least a spiritual thought). This is encouraged by church leaders and Kelsey generally takes this kind of thing to heart. Most families have family members take turns giving lessons but Kelsey loves to take charge and is really good at coming up with activities or object lessons. No one else fights her for the responsibility.

This week it was getting a little late on Monday and we were reminded that we needed to have a family home evening. Kelsey prepared a lesson and we all gathered together. She gave us each a popsicle stick and asked us to write our name on the stick. She gathered the newly named sticks and stuck them in a sandwich sized zip lock bag. "This bag is our family when we are united and together. Can you think of some things that might pull us apart?", she asked. "Fighting" "Lying" "Doing bad things"... were some of the answers. After each answer she would shake the bag until a popsicle stick would fall out. After "we" were all out of the bag and scattered about she told us, "When we don't do what is right, we can not be close as a family and Heavenly Father can't keep us together. We want to be together and be safe. What are some things we can do to be together and be safe?"

The answers started. "Be kind" "Do what is right" "Pray"... After each answer she would put one of the sticks back in the baggy. She wasn't quite sure how to phrase the part about us being together. "When we do what is right, we can be together in the Spiritual Bag of Awesomeness."

I hope that we can all do what is right and stay in the Spiritual Bag of Awesomeness.

* The above story (retold by Joe) is not an exact account of the events that transpired but, it should be good enough to get the point across.