For
family home evening tonight, we used the Lorax and Truffala trees to teach an important lesson. We watched the clip from the movie
The Lorax, where the Once-ler's family joins him to start making Thneeds. The Lorax cautions Once-ler that he is making the wrong choice. He asks, "Which way does a tree fall?" The answer, "It falls the way it leans. Be careful which way you lean." We related this to the
prophet George Albert Smith's counsel. “There is a line of demarcation well defined between the Lord’s territory and the devil’s territory. If you will stay on the Lord’s side of the line you will be under his influence and will have no desire to do wrong; but if you cross to the devil’s side of that line one inch you are in the tempter’s power and if he is successful, you will not be able to think or even reason properly because you will have lost the Spirit of the Lord.”
I made a Truffala tree pencil for each person. (Simply a piece of feather boa glued to the top of pencil.) I used these trees to demonstrate President Smith's counsel. If we are on the Lord's side and striving to do good which way will we "fall?" On the Lord's side. If we are on Satan's side, which way will we fall? For Satan. If we are planted on the Lord's side but are thinking about doing wrong or even disobeying a few commandments, which way are we leaning? Which way will we fall? For Satan. However, if we have made bad choices in the past and we're stuck on Satan's side, but we want to repent and be on the Lord's side, we are leaning to the Lord's side and he will help us to come back to his side.
We closed with more of
President Smith's counsel, “When I have been tempted sometimes to do a certain thing, I have asked myself, ‘Which side of the line am I on?’ If I determined to be on the safe side, the Lord’s side, I would do the right thing every time. So when temptation comes think prayerfully about your problem and the influence of the Lord will aid you to decide wisely. There is safety for us only on the Lord’s side of the line.” I reminded them the Lorax's warning. "Be careful which way you lean."
I'm hoping that we will be able to use this as a reminder later on. "Whose side are you on?'' or "Which way are you leaning?" As well as seeing the fuzzy Truffala tree pencils around the house. This should help the kid's to think about the choices they are making and which side it places them.
It was a great lesson and we finished up by eating
Deep Dish Chocolate Pumpkin Pizookie. Thanks to Stephanie Ferrera for the
R.S. lesson and Truffala tree that prompted this and to my sister Emily for suggesting the recipe. (Although next time I make it, I don't think I'll make it deep dish. It was really rich and very filling.)
