Family Night

My husband has a hidden talent. Well, not so hidden anymore since I'm sharing it. He gives great family night lessons. Here's how this past Monday went:

While on the train home from work, Floyd received a call from me reminding him it was his week to teach. That means I'm in charge of treats. Actually, it turns out I'm always in charge of treats. Just as well, I'm very good at treats. He came home, we ate dinner, and then I said, "are you ready for the lesson?" He, very nonchalantly said, "Yeah." When I teach a lesson, I come armed with props and games. He had nothing, and I was suspicious, but we gathered anyway. Always an entertaining gathering with the kiddo's involved. It started with Cole giving me a prize for saying, "Welcome to Family Night everyone." He gives a prize to whoever conducts. I have no idea why. After I received my prize, I said, "Now we'll have a song, Cole what song would you like to choose?" I said that mostly out of routine as Cole chooses Called to Serve every week. But Floyd surprised me by saying, "Can you play All Creatures of Our God and King?" Now I was very suspicious. What an obscure song to choose. Not that I don't like it, I do, I just found it a little odd.

I played the song, with copious pauses for Floyd to whisper the words to Cole. Then it was time for the lesson. Floyd started by saying "Cole, our lesson this week is about a word you might never have heard before. Do you know what praise means?" And that was that, an entire family night lesson about praise. Not a topic I ever would have come up with. I stick with the basics - baptism, obedience, tithing (that was a flop), Joseph Smith, etc. No props, no pictures, no cartoons, just Floyd talking about praise and what it means. And it was great. I won't try to duplicate it here as I can't talk about it nearly as poetically as he did. Suffice it to say that I was really touched and know that Cole probably now knows more about praise and how we can praise our Heavenly Father than most people who will read this. I'm still thinking about the lesson two days later and I'm pretty sure Floyd's never been thinking about some cute little picture I had Cole color two days later.

When he sticks to the basics, he outshines me as well. A couple of weeks ago, he taught about baptism and colored all over a white paper towel with a washable marker. Then, he dipped the towel into the water to symbolize how baptism makes us clean. Later that night while getting ready for bed, Cole took a wad of toilet paper and threw it into the sink while brushing his teeth. Floyd and I were a bit annoyed until Cole explained, "but Dad, I was just showing you baptism." Clearly, he paid attention and will remember that lesson.

Floyd noted that one way we can praise Heavenly Father is by developing our talents, so I've been thinking about that and what talents I have neglected. I've also been thinking about his talents and how grateful I am that he shares his talent of teaching the gospel with our little family.