Mary - Developing Talents (4)

Make an item from wood, metal, fabric, or other material, or draw, paint, or sculpt a piece of art. Display your finished work for others to see. - Developing Talents #4

In September I sent out the schedule for the rest of the year to the parents. On that schedule, we were supposed to meet twice in December. The Relief Society Christmas Party was announced in November to be on the day we had scheduled Activity Days, so we cancelled the first activity. The second one was scheduled too close to Christmas so most of the girls would be gone. December scheduling is always really crazy! We ended up meeting once on the only night in December the majority of the girls were free. Maybe two activities in December is too ambitious.

We met at a leader's house with the Sister MIssionaries. After our opening stuffs the Sister Missionaries showed us the Light the World video for 2017 and we talked about the program. That lead beautifully into making our own light- Ice Candles! Here is a tutorial

We bought paraffin wax and wicks and had collected empty school milk containers (the cardboard square boxes they serve at school lunches). The girls had to agree on what two colors they wanted their candles to be. They picked pink and blue and we dropped one pink crayon into a pot of melted paraffin wax, still on the stove,  and dropped one blue crayon into the other pot of melted paraffin wax, also still on the stove. The girls cut off the tops of the milk carton, poked a hole through the bottom, threaded the wicks, and filled them up with ice. 

An adult poured the now-colored wax into the container. Each girl did this three times, so each girl ended up with one pink candle, one blue candle, and one pink and blue candle. 

While we were waiting for them to harden we ate our snacks and I taught the lesson: 

Miriam was a young girl living in Israel. At that time, there were lots of girls named Miriam because the name Miriam was in the Bible and it was prophesied that the mother of the Son of God would be named Miriam, so a lot of mothers named their daughters Miriam. In Greek, the name Miriam is translated into Mary.

Mary was young, thirteen or fourteen, and espoused to a man named Joseph, which meant that one day in the future she would mary Joseph.

Mary was beautiful, when Nephi saw her in a vision he called her “most beautiful and fair above all other virgins.” But Nephi wasn’t talking about what Mary looked like on the outside, he was talking about Deep Beauty.

“Deep beauty” is the kind of beauty that shines from the inside out. It is the kind of beauty that cannot be painted on, surgically created, or purchased. It is the kind of beauty that doesn’t wash off. It is spiritual attractiveness. Deep beauty springs from virtue. It is the beauty of being morally clean. It is a beauty that is earned through faith, repentance, and honoring covenants.

The gift of the Holy Ghost … inspires virtue, kindness, goodness, tenderness, gentleness and charity. It develops beauty of person, form and features.” it is the only beauty that really matters and the only kind of beauty that lasts.

One day the Angel Gabriel came to Mary and told her she would become pregnant. She was to name the baby Jesus, and he was the son of God. Mary humbly told Gabriel “Behold the handmaiden of the lord; be it unto me according to thy word.” Which meant: I will do what the Lord asks me to do.

What the Lord asked Mary to do was really, really hard. She was very young, pregnant with no husband, then, when she was very pregnant, she and Joseph had to travel a long way, to Bethlehem, when they got there, the town was so crowded that she had to give birth among the animals.

And yet, she did this very hard thing. And God was with her the whole time, helping her when she asked for help. But Mary’s hardships didn’t stop when Jesus was born:

When Jesus was only one week old, Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus went to the temple to offer a sacrifice to God. While there, they were approached by a man named Simon who saw baby Jesus and recognized him as Jesus the Christ. While Simon held baby Jesus, he prophesied about the life Baby Jesus would grow up and have. Simon told Mary “Yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also, that the thoughts and hearts of many may be revealed.” Mary had just been told that her tiny little baby boy would grow up and suffer, and be pierced with a sword, and she would suffer because of that. What a scary thing for a young mother to hear!

But the first thing the Angel Gabriel had told Mary was “Fear not” and Mary trusted in God, so even though she knew bad things were going to happen, she went forward with Faith, asking God for peace and help to not be afraid.

Then, when Jesus was two years old, wise men from the east showed up at their door bringing gifts for the Son of God. They had traveled for two years to find him. Wouldn't be incredible to have a caravan of kings show up at your door, bringing you gifts and wanting to worship your little boy? When they left, Joseph had a vision in which an angel said King Herod would kill Jesus, and they were not safe in Israel anymore. Joseph and Mary had to leave in the middle of the night. They went from being visited by kings, to becoming homeless refugees. They fled into Egypt, where they had no family and no friends and stayed there for several years, until and angel told Joseph that Herod was dead.

When Jesus grew up and became an adult, he left Mary and Joseph to teach the people. He traveled for months and months.  Then, when he was 30 years old, Jesus was arrested and sentenced to death by crucifixion. Mary went to the hill Golgotha and watched her son be crucified. She watched her son suffer and die on the cross.

After Jesus died, a Roman soldier came to make sure he was dead, so he took his sword and stabbed Jesus in the side. Do you think Mary remembered what Simon had told her 30 years ago at the temple? That a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also?

This must have been the hardest thing Mary went through and yet, three days later, she received her greatest joy. Greater than the kings coming to visit her and bring her gifts: Jesus was resurrected and spent 40 days and the resurrected Lord with Mary and with the Apostles and disciples. Mary knew that his sorrows were over, and that when she died, she would be able to live forever with her son, and with Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother.

Mary’s life was full of hard  and sad things, yet she was always willing to do what God asked her to do, no matter how difficult or sad. In the end, Mary was given eternal life, exaltation, and happiness forever with Jesus. We can have that too. We can do whatever God asks us to do. We can do hard and sad things because we know that if we do, we can have eternal life, exaltation, and happiness forever with Jesus.

After that we peeled of the cardboard on the first candles we made. The girls were really excited about them! They ended up taking home the last candle in the cardboard to give it more time to harden.  The girls proudly posed for pictures with their creations and discussed if they were going to kep them or give them away as Christmas presents. 

We ended with our prayer and spin-out circle and wished everyone a Merry Christmas!