Purpose: to help your family learn that goals are achieved step by step.
Possible scriptures: Isaiah 28:10,13; Matt 5:16; Matt 5:48; Galatians 6:10; James 2:17-22; Jacob 2:18-19; 3 Nephi 13:24; 3 Nephi 13:33 (see also Matt 6:33); 3 Nephi 27: 27; Doctrine & Covenants 67:13;
Possible Songs: “The Iron Rod,” Hymns 274; “As Zion’s Youth in Latter-days,” Hymns 256; “I Hope They Call Me on a Mission,” Children’s Songbook 169; “The Things I Do,” Children’s Songbook 170; “I Love to See the Temple,” Children’s Songbook 95; “I’m Trying to be Like Jesus,” Children’s Songbook 78.
Possible Materials: five small stuffed animals or other soft objects; Heber J Grant stories (1, 2, 3) and a picture of him (Note: Older audiences may prefer reading about Heber J. Grant from The Teachings of Heber J. Grant Lesson Manual, found here); Tree of Life story aides; Graham Cracker Story aides (at least some graham crackers and grapes, but you may also consider making a simple chore chart or grabbing some clothes and a toy car, etc); A photograph of Ford’s Assembly Line; Paper and Pencils.
Preparation: Begin with prayer. Read the suggested scriptures, along with 1 Nephi 8 and Moses 1:39. Think of why it is significant to know that even our Heavenly Father sets goals. Consider some possible goals for yourself. Think of your own struggles with keeping goals. Is there ways you can improve, so that you can help others? Read through the lesson, including any links, and carefully select the most relevant material for your family. Children: Listen to the audio for the Heber J Grant stories and the story about graham crackers and grapes and watch the video for the Tree of Life. Collect grapes and graham crackers to use when you tell the lesson.
Lesson:
Introduction: select a member of the family (preferably one that can catch) and tell them you want them to catch all five stuffed animals. Then throw them at the family member all at once. They will probably not be able to catch all of them, or even one of them. Collect the objects and this time throw them to the family member one at a time. When thrown one at a time, the family member will be able to catch most, if not all, of the objects. Explain that starting any big project or setting a big goal is like this. If we try to set big goals and accomplish them all at once, we will struggle and get overwhelmed. But if we think about our goals and what steps are needed to achieve them, and work on each little step, the process of goal setting becomes quite simple.
Explain to your youngest family members, if you need, that a goal is something you want to do, to be, or to have. It is something you have to work for, but something that you know someday you can get or be. An example of a goal is thinking about what you want to be when you grow up. Other goals are something you want to learn how to do.
Read “Graham Crackers, Grapes, and Goals from the Friend.” Talk about how the boy in the story had a goal to keep his room clean, but he was fining it hard to reach his goal. This story talks about how each step is important when we set a goal. Use illustrations or real graham crackers and grapes to help younger children pay attention to the story.
Hand out papers and pencils (and help little kids) and ask each member of the family to write what they think are some pretty big goals that they have for themselves. Then ask them how they can work on small parts of the goal in order to reach the bigger goal. Tell them they can work on this throughout the rest of the lesson.
From Church History: Hold up a picture of Heber J Grant. Read one of the stories from President Grant’s Life (links above) from the Friend Magazine, and ask, “What goal did Heber make? What did he do to reach his goal? What happened because he made the goal?” Then read the next story and ask the same questions. Repeat for the third.
From World History: Hold up a picture of Henry Ford’s assembly line. Then read the following clip from PBS.org’s People and Discoveries segment:
In 1907, Henry Ford announced his goal for the Ford Motor Company: to create “a motor car for the great multitude.” At that time, automobiles were expensive, custom-made machines.
Ford’s engineers took the first step towards this goal by designing the Model T, a simple, sturdy car, offering no factory options — not even a choice of color. The Model T, first produced in 1908… was less expensive than most other cars, but it was still not attainable for the “multitude.” Ford realized he’d need a more efficient way to produce the car in order to lower the price. He and his team looked at other industries and found four principles that would further their goal: interchangeable parts, continuous flow, division of labor, and reducing wasted effort.
Using interchangeable parts meant making the individual pieces of the car the same every time. That way any valve would fit any engine, any steering wheel would fit any chassis. … Once the machines were adjusted, a low-skilled laborer could operate them, replacing the skilled craftsperson who formerly made the parts by hand. To improve the flow of the work, it needed to be arranged so that as one task was finished, another began, with minimum time spent in set-up. Ford was inspired by the meat-packing houses of Chicago and a grain mill conveyor belt he had seen. If he brought the work to the workers, they spent less time moving about. Then he divided the labor by breaking the assembly of the Model T into 84 distinct steps. Each worker was trained to do just one of these steps. …
Ford put these principles into play gradually over five years, fine-tuning and testing as he went along. In 1913, they came together in the first moving assembly line ever used for large-scale manufacturing. Ford produced cars at a record-breaking rate. That meant he could lower the price and still make a good profit by selling more cars. …
Ford’s manufacturing principles were adopted by countless other industries. Henry Ford went beyond his 1907 goal of making cars affordable for all; he changed the habits of a nation, and shaped its very character.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/dt13as.html
Discuss with your family what Henry Ford can teach us about setting goals. Some examples might include that he broke up what needed to happen into steps, he evaluated why he wasn’t having success and adjusted what he needed to do. Also note that his goal was not achieved instantly! It took him 5 years of fine-tuning. But because he set a goal, he changed the world.
From the Scriptures: Read or summarize Lehi’s Dream as found in 1 Nephi 8. For younger children, use the story aid illustrations provided in the materials section above. When you’re done reading the story, explain how the Tree of Life represents eternal life. Eternal life is our ultimate goal! It is also Heavenly Father’s goal for us! Read Moses 1:39. Heavenly father wants us to return to Him. What little steps do we need to take in order to make it to our big goal? (answers should include holding onto the rod – staying close to the doctrine of The Church and not getting distracted by flashy things or hard times – the building and the mists). Discuss how clinging to the rod doesn’t actually get us to the tree. we have to take step after step.
Further Discussion:
Read Keeping Life’s Demands in Balance. Discuss the steps listed in the talk: (1) Think out your life and your priorities. What is most important? (2) Set short-term goals that you can reach quickly. (3) Balance needs and wants. (4) Stay close to family (5) Study the scriptures (6) Plan time for sufficient rest, exercise and relaxation. (7) Family Home Evening (8) Pray often as individuals and as a family.
Talk about how to set SMART Goals. S = Specific (or Significant). M = Measurable (or Meaningful). A = Attainable (or Action-Oriented).R = Relevant (or Rewarding). T = Time-bound (or Trackable). Also discuss the importance of prayer in setting goals. By taking the time to prepare, pray, and ponder about our goals, we are able to focus on what will be most beneficial for our family.
Recent Conference talks to consider in your discussion: Worthiness Is Not Flawlessness, by Bradley R. Wilcox; One Percent Better, By Michael A. Dunn; Becoming More in Christ: The Parable of The Slope, by Clark G. Gilbert
Challenge:
Remind your family about how we need to keep goals in our mind AND we need to work to achieve them. We need to cling tightly to the rod and to the things we know will bring us to our goals. Remind the family that they wrote down goals at the beginning of the lesson and ask them if they feel confident in taking the steps to reach their goals. Discuss any help they might need as a family. Challenge each member of your family to work on a small step of their goal that can be accomplished during the week so that they can report back next week.
Also, this ties in really well with the new youth program, so if you have any youth, this is a perfect time to reevaluate those youth goals!
Giving due credit: I used the object lesson given in Lesson 32 of The Latter-day Saint Woman: Basic Manual for Women, Part B for inspiration.
