Origins of this blog on Ostler’s “Listen, Learn & Love” podcast!

My 62 minutes of fame – being interviewed on Richard Ostler‘s Listen, Learn & Love podcast! Here’s my life story in fast forward mode, including the founding of this PrimaryinZion blog, told through four life lessons that you might relate to:

1) Do what God is calling you to do, no matter what anyone else says (the story of why I divorced – twice).

2) Take truth from wherever you find it (how I am healing).

3) Don’t be afraid of an unconventional career and lifepath (about my career in higher education).

4) Grab your courage and walk through the doors God opens (about my current writing/editing career).

Listen here. And here’s the backstory: I was on deadline for Richard’s third book. I paused working on the manuscript to google whether “full time” is hyphenated. While I was online I noticed I had a message from Richard inviting me to appear on his podcast. Totally blew my concentration on his manuscript while I wondered whether to say yes. (Obviously, I did.)

-Marci

marcimcpheewriter.com

Overheard in Primary: Heavenly Mother’s Name

Next in our series of “Overheard in Primary” — more kid wisdom with a grin!

“Mother Divine” by Courtney Vander Veur Matz courtneyvvmatz.com

My young daughter Evelyn knew Heavenly Mother’s name. In fact, she thought she was named for Her. She prayed to her Heavenly Parents with every prayer. We were saying “Father in Heaven,” but she heard “Father and Evelyn.”

Now you know.

(For more kid wisdom with a grin, check out these other posts in the Overheard in Primary series: Our “Overheard in Primary” series: go ahead and smile sometimes!

-Marci

PS – Want to learn more about Heavenly Mother, following Elder Renlund’s counsel to stick to what we know from the Heavenly Mother Gospel Topics essay? Here are some of my favorite resources for kids. Click on the book cover to go to the Amazon listing to learn more about each of these terrific books. And for adults, we recommend the 2023 book Cherish: The Joy of our Mother in Heaven, curated by Ashli Carnicelli, Trina Caudle, and McArthur Krishna.

Overheard in Primary: Song mixup – God never leaves us alone

Photo from the blowup by Narain Jashanmal on Unsplash

Lighthearted moments sparkle up the challenges and joys of teaching children at home and at church. Here’s the next in the series, “Overheard in Primary”:

The song “The Lord is my Light” contains this line: “He leads, He leads me along.”

Ethan thought the words were: “He leaves, He leaves me alone.”

I’m here to testify that the Lord never leaves us alone. NEVER. In the very last verse of the very last chapter of the book of Matthew, Jesus’s last words were: “I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen” (Matthew 28:20).

Amen and amen, Jesus.

-Marci

Read more lighthearted moments in the Overheard in Primary series: Our “Overheard in Primary” series: go ahead and smile sometimes!

CFM: Jonah repented – even children can too!

Come Follow Me for Nov. 21-27: Jonah! Gotta start with the great verse to “Follow the Prophet” – see “SWALLOW the prophet!“

It’s easy to be judgy about Ninevites in our lives. But we can teach the children that other people’s righteousness is between them and God. We’re called to do our OWN repenting, and say what God wants us to say wherever he wants to say it.

Visualizing the map helps to imagine Jonah’s plan. Tarshish is in modern-day Spain, says the LDS Bible Dictionary. Jonah got on the boat at Joppa and planned to run away as far as he could. Ask the children: how far would you have to go to run away from God?

Jonah was a prophet and he repented! Even apostles and prophets today are human and need to repent too! Elder M. Russell Ballard confessed, “Every night as I review my day in prayer with my Father in Heaven, I ask to be forgiven if I did anything wrong and promise to try to be better tomorrow. I believe this regular daily repentance helps my spirit remind my body who is in charge of me” (“Giving Our Spirits Control over Our Bodies,” October 2019).

Jonah repented – the Ninevites repented – and we can too. Teach children the pleasure of being clean through daily repentance in daily prayers (a free chapter from the book Sunday Lessons and Activities for Kids, the book born on this blog!)

-Marci

marcimcpheewriter.com

Image from stgeorgesunited.com

PSA: Steve Young’s new book, edited by PrimaryinZion co-founder Marci McPhee

“Even if we understand the idea that we should love people, we sometimes think we’re supposed to love them back onto our path instead of respecting their own journey. I’m not trying to love people into coming with me. I’m just loving people.”

NFL Hall of Famer Steve Young has published a new book: The Law of Love. The editor is Marci McPhee, cofounder of this PrimaryinZion blog.

THE LAW OF LOVE—loving as God loves, seeking another’s healing, expecting nothing in return—is a simple principle with profound, life-changing implications. How can we live the law of love? Steve Young shares insights from his own multifaceted life as well as from others who are scientists, fellow Latter-day Saints, Anglican, atheist, Baptist, Catholic, Confucian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, and secular people of wisdom, as well as from the scriptures. This practical book may shift your mindset to a more expansive worldview that just might change everything. Whether in football, work, church, or family, the law of love is undefeated.

Available in paperback on Deseret Book and Kindle on Amazon, with audiobook (in Steve’s voice) and hardcover coming soon. Spanish coming next year.

“Love others on their journey, without loving them back to my journey.” – Steve Young

“Satan can’t tempt children, but he can sure get his licks in on those who teach them”

The full quote from Pres. Harold B. Lee reads like this:

“Satan cannot tempt little children before they come to the age of accountability; but Satan gets in his licks by trying to make those of us who are entrusted with their care and their training to be negligent and careless and allow them to develop those little tendencies that will lead them away, and will [make them] unfit for the great responsibilities in meeting the contest with Satan, and fail to put on that armor by the time they come to the age of accountability.” The Teachings of Harold B. Lee, 268.

To me, that contains two messages:

1. Teach the children. (You’re already doing that the best you can, and we’re here to support you.)
2. Take care of yourself. Satan is doubling his efforts to take you down, not only because he would like to win YOU but also win those precious children you influence. But you can rise up and defeat him. God is infinitely more powerful than Satan, and God is on YOUR side.

Take care of yourself physically (relax sometimes, not just work; eat well; move that body). Take care of yourself spiritually (connect with God often, by talking to Him in prayer, and listening to Him in scripture study and meditation). You’re worth it – and those children you love are worth it too.

-Marci

marcimcpheewriter.com

Photo by Andrew Johnson on Unsplash

Teaching the One benefits ALL children

“These teaching methods not only assisted Carver [a special needs child] but also helped all class members grasp the stories and principles we were teaching,” wrote Janice LeFevre (Ensign, July 2013, 53).

What teaching methods did she use that worked this magic on ALL the children, while she tried to meet the needs of one child?

Using pictures, props, acting out the story, summarizing the lesson in a single sentence and having the children repeat it, explaining scripture words, reading from illustrated scripture stories, and watching video segments. All these different methods reach kids’ minds in different ways and help the message stick – with or without special needs.

Janice continued, “The quiet child who had seldom participated began reading aloud and answering questions. Two others, who had often found teasing one another preferable to listening, became more focused on the lessons. In our classroom we found that following Jesus’s pattern of reaching out to the one brought similar blessings.”

Also check out:

• “A rising tide lifts all boats“
• “Potatoes every night: variety in teaching“
• “Recipe for Success: Dealing with Distractions and Helping Kids Focus” by Kyoto

-Marci

Image from the same Ensign article quoted above.

Also see the Church’s disabilities resources.

The crucial last step of prayer – “in the name of . . . “

Growing up Methodist, I thought that I couldn’t approach God personally — the minister talked to God and I talked to the minister. I wasn’t encouraged to have a personal relationship with Him; I wasn’t entitled.

Now, as a Latter-day Saint, I’m thrilled to know that I can approach my Father personally whenever I like. But what I learned as a little girl is still true: I’m not worthy to enter His presence. No unclean thing can (1 Nephi 15:34).

Every Primary child knows the steps of prayer: address Heavenly Father, thank Him for blessings, ask for what you need, repent, and close in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. We often treat that last phrase as if it’s computer code, like “end of program” or “wake up! appproaching the closing!” (That’s kind of like taking Jesus’s name in vain, which means anytime you say the word God or Jesus and you don’t think about Them.) It’s so much more than code for the end of prayer: it’s our calling on the name of our advocate who allows us to approach God’s presence.

It’s like in medieval times when the palace guard knocks on the peasant’s door and shouts, “Open up, in the name of the King!” That palace guard himself doesn’t have authority to enter the peasant’s home. The family would just say, “Who are YOU?” and keep the door locked. But as representative of the King, that person does have authority to enter, just as the King would.

So we close our prayers, not in our own puny name, but in the name of Jesus. He has the authority to enter God’s presence because He is a perfect being. Jesus our advocate gives us that power if we pray in His name.

For me, it’s become one of my favorite parts of a prayer. Instead of rushing through to get to the “amen,” I stop and savor it — just think! Jesus, my mediator with the Father. I stop and think about who Jesus is and what He has done.

Once, during family prayer, I guess I stopped too long on that step and my husband elbowed me, thinking I had fallen asleep, as I contemplated my Savior.

I’m about to close, but I’ll be closing in the name of Jesus Christ. Instead of thinking of it as a computer command that means “coming to the end,” I invite you to pause with me and think about your Savior; your Redeemer, He who already paid the price for your mistakes, past, present, and future; He who, as a perfect being who loves us, has given us permission to use His name as we approach the perfect presence of God our Father. Think about it — then teach the children.

In the holy name of Jesus Christ, amen.

-Marci

SWALLOW the prophet!

I would LOVE to give credit where credit is due! An unknown source (was it you?) created the following verse to “Follow the Prophet” (Children’s Songbook, 110).

“Jonah was a prophet, swallowed by a whale.

When he was on board, the ship just couldn’t sail.

So they tossed him over, next thing that he knew,

Nineveh repented, Jonah had to, too.

Swallow the prophet, swallow the prophet,

swallow the prophet, won’t get away;

Swallow the prophet, swallow the prophet,

swallow the prophet, he’ll find the way!”

Not only is it a catchy song, but it also teaches an important truth: even prophets (like Jonah) can repent. We lovingly support our leaders (men and women) when we don’t expect them to be perfect (only Jesus did that) and give them space and grace to repent — like Jonah.

Image from curiousworkmanshop.com

Also thanks to Derek Knox of BeyondtheBlockPodcast #btblds for passing this along.

“Why do I even bother?” speaking to the parents in the foyer

Many years ago, noted LDS historian Richard Bushman was the president of the Boston Massachusetts Stake. I was half-listening to his comments in stake conference from the foyer (again), while chasing four young children (5, 4, 2, and 8 months), who always seemed to be going in four different directions, none of which involved sitting quietly on a pew so Mom could concentrate on President Bushman’s words.

Here are his words, as best as I could recall at journal-writing time, after those four lively kids were safely asleep:

President Bushman said, “Sometimes parents of young children feel that they spend all their time chasing and hushing young children and don’t get a single thing out of the meeting. They may wonder ‘Why did I even bother to come’? I promise that the Lord will bless you for being where you should be — in the right place at the right time — even though you may feel that you haven’t gotten anything out of the meeting.” I wondered how he read my mind. No speaker ever talks to the people in the foyer.

Pres. Bushman had no way of knowing how often I would repeat his words like a mantra in the years to come. It kept me going on many Sunday mornings, wondering whether the struggle of getting everybody ready was worth getting next-to-nothing out of the meetings. It was quite awhile before those wiggly children grew up enough to sit still and quietly draw cartoon explosions on the printed program at church. But I know Pres. Bushman’s observation was true: the Lord DID bless me for being in the right place at the right time. He will bless you too.

-Marci

marcimcpheewriter.com

(Rick Egan | Salt Lake Tribune file photo) Richard Bushman speaking at Benchmark Books in South Salt Lake in 2018.