Youngest Daughter's Sacrament Talk

[WillowTheWhisp]

My 13 year old daughter gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting yesterday. She was given the topic to speak on "Concern for the One" but asked not to refer to the recent conference talk on the subject as we were having two speakers from Stake and they would no doubt be using that conference address for their talks.

So with a furrowed brow she plodded through her scriptures and some old talks by GAs and came up with an angle on the theme of the lost sheep.

When it same to Sacrament meeting she was the first speaker and talked about how the sheep managed to get lost - not by wilfully deciding to turn away from the flock but by curiosity casing them to wander, or by accident. She quoted Elder Hartman Rector Jr:

“In the parable of the lost sheep it appears that the sheep got lost because he wandered away. He probably didn’t intend to get lost but became distracted and did not pay attention to where he was going. How do you get a lost sheep back into the fold? You go out and find him, turn him around, and bring him back into the fold. Usually the sheep is so glad to be back safe in the fold that he runs and jumps for joy.”

Then she went on to mention that there are people missing from the congregation who may be ill or may need our help and how simple it is just to pick up the phone or call round and say "Hi" - it made me think of an elderly lady who hadn't been coming out because of the bad winter weather but we haven't even bothered to go and see if she wants to come back again now the weather has improved. We can easily pick her up on our way to church. Or the sister with a young grand daughter who wasn't there today - I made a point of finding out where they were and happily neither is ill and will hopefully be back with us next week.

Our second speaker actually spoke about the Holy Ghost so it seemed they were not going to use the "Caring for the One" topic at all but then when the final speaker spoke he tied in the two together. He'd known what the second speaker was going to say as they had discussed it previously but he'd had no idea what the first talk would be until he got here.

He then said that he'd been impressed that the first speaker had thought to bring up the subject of why sheep get lost as he had been looking at that aspect too and thought maybe they'd both been studying the same sources! He said we often tend to think of the lost sheep as being the ones who have chosen other religions or who have made a specific decision to leave the Church, or who just don't want to know and we should consider the value of time spent with people who definitely don't want to know against the value of time spent with people who have wandered by accident and not realised how far they have strayed. They will be the ones who jump and bounce for joy when we help them find their way back. He knew he was on the right track because the Spirit had inspired both him and my daughter to look at it from the same angle.

My daughter was chuffed to bits that she's actually followed the promptings of the spirit and prepared the way with her talk for the things which the Stake speaker had to say.

For a 13 year old who usually chunners away at 90 miles an hour most of which is incoherent teenspeak I was amazed at how clear and specific she was in the things she said and how much I felt the spirit from her talk.

I think she learned a lot about relying on spiritual guidance too. :)

[Guest tomk]

Sheep get lost because they are Toddlers. :)

We're not willing to see ourselves as infants. We're "adults" -- how can we be innocent and naive and foolish?

And yet, that is how the Lord sees us and treats us.

[WillowTheWhisp]

He is incredibly patient with us isn't he? Even when we think we know best and ignore what he tells us - how like a teenager is that?

I must try to learn from that how to behave with my own children.

[Jenamarie]

What an awesome talk from a 13 year old!! Sounds like it was a great experience for her. :)

[Misshalfway]

Sometimes my favorite talks come from the youth speakers!!! They have so very much gold in them!!

[pushka]

Well Done to your daughter Willow!!

I was approached and asked if I was ready to do a talk in Sacrament meeting yet, yesterday..I said okay, and I'm 'booked in' for June...I don't know what the topic will be yet and have been promised an Ensign article to help me prepare...should be fun, must be around 27 years since I last gave a talk in Church!!

[WillowTheWhisp]

Oooh lovely Pushka, how exciting for you. :) I haven't done one for ages.

[pushka]

I'm a little nervous, thinking of how long/short it's supposed to be and whether or not I'll steam thru it like a train, lol..I should be okay, I was trained as a telephonist and worked as such for 10 years, so I should be used to speaking to the public by now, let's just hope I understand the subject matter :)

[WillowTheWhisp]

There'll probably be scripture references. You could always come on here and ask for ideas.

[pushka]

I will do that Willow..we also had a RS lesson based on the book Preach My Gospel yesterday, and it was noted how useful that is for reference material for talks/lessons, I might pick the brains of the Missionaries too, in some areas.

[Misshalfway]

Hey Pushka, you are lucky you have so much time to prepare. We usually get a call from the bishopric only a few days before!

[pushka]

Well I haven't really got any extra time to prepare..I have no idea what I'm going to be talking about, just that it's gonna be some time in June..

[Maya]

My annual speach time is closing in ... it usually hits the holiday time... at least almost. Funny thing is I have twice had the same speach...