Family Home Evening

This week our FHE lesson was entitled "The Lord looketh on the heart." I found the idea for it on the website familiesinzion.com. (I have referenced this site many times for FHE lessons and have been impressed with them.) I prepared two gifts beforehand. One was a rock wrapped up in a sparkly gift bag that I knew would catch my girls' attention. The other, I originally planned to be a little treat, but since we had already made cinnamon rolls for our FHE treat and I figured they didn't need anymore sugar, I wrapped up 3 little lip glosses....one for each girl....in a plain brown paper bag. At the beginning of our lesson we talked about which gift they would most like and naturally they chose the one in the fancy gift bag. I told them we would open the gifts a little later and we had a lesson about people's outside appearance and what happens when we judge. We watched a little video clip about an amazing and talented young man who doesn't look like the world's view of successful. If you would like to check it out here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qTiYA1WiY8 There is so much pressure on girls...and moms...(all of us really) to look beautiful and have fancy things. I see them already noticing outward appearances and I really want them to look past people's outward appearance, including their own, and seek out what's inside.
Anyway, we discussed all of this including the story in the 1Samuel where Samuel is told by the Lord that one of Jesse's sons will be the next king and while Jesse had many strong and handsome sons, the Lord didn't choose them. He chose David because, "The Lord seeth not as a man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart."
Then I let them open the gifts and asked them now that the outside wrapping was off, which one they liked better. My sweet Emma immediately said, "the rock. the rock...because it really doesn't matter what we look like and we don't really need to wear lip gloss." She had out-thunk me! She overanalyzed my object lesson! I explained what I really meant by the object lesson...that even though the one gift was fancy on the outside, it didn't have anything valuable on the inside, just a plain old rock. By the same account, the gift that was plain and may have seemed boring on the outside had something of value and fun on the inside. I also expained that while outside appearances aren't the most important thing about us, there is nothing wrong with lip gloss. Afterall, it can help our lips when they feel chappy and dry! I told them that they will meet people in their lives who look fancy, but aren't kind or good friends on the inside. They will also meet people who aren't fancy and might look different, but are kind and true friends once we get to know them....We also talked about the kind of people they want to be and about pressure to have fancy things and be fancy.....and that while being fancy isn't a bad thing, it's not the most important thing. (we use the word fancy a lot at our house...we love the Fancy Nancy books) The most important thing is that they are kind and help those around them and that recognize and seek out other people's talents beyond their outward appearance....
I think it all made an impression on them. They were very insightful during our discussion and we all felt the spirit which is something that doesn't always happen during family home evening. I already see so much social pressure around them and they are still so young. It is frightening for me knowing what they have ahead to face. It is my hope that they will find value in themselves beyond where the world places its value.