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It was still dark as I drove to work yesterday morning on highway I-395 in northern Virginia. As I passed the Pentagon on my left, the traffic abruptly came to a halt. The freeway bends north there in order to cross the Potomac River into the District of Columbia. There was no apparent cause for the traffic jam that I found myself in.
After a few minutes of creeping along, I could see several flashing yellow lights and orange traffic cones in the distance that were causing drivers in the left lane, like I was, to move into the next lane.
When I reached the flashing lights, I could now see that recent rains and a clogged freeway drain had created a small lake in the left lane about 30 yards long and almost two feet deep.
Without the flashing lights and traffic cones, drivers like myself would have hit the black water while traveling at full speed and lost control of our vehicles. Fortunately, someone who knew that the hazard was there had taken the time to place the flashing lights at just the right time in just the right place.
It caused me to think that President Hinckley is currently serving the same function as those flashing lights, and our local church leaders provide additional assistance like the smaller, but well-placed, traffic cones.
The Lord knows there are hazards in life that we cannot see so he positions His living prophet and local leaders to warn us of their presence. If we are wise, we will listen and obey.
The Old Testament teaches this lesson from the beginning of Genesis through the closing pages of Malachi, and we have the wonderful opportunity to share those lessons with our students.
"Today I join you in sustaining President Gordon B. Hinckley as prophet, seer, and revelator, and President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The prophets of old taught well the importance of listening to the voice of prophets." (Elder Robert D. Hales, Ensign, May 1995.)
"How deeply grateful I am for the inspired leadership of our dear President Gordon B. Hinckley, the prophet of God in our time, and his noble counselors." (Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Ensign, May 2006.)
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Last week's newsletter shared some ideas regarding celebrating birthdays and half-birthdays.
Several teachers from around the world wrote to share their favorite birthday recognition ideas. Here are a few of them:
Sister Rockwood shared the address of a very interesting website that contains the definitions and meanings for hundreds (if not thousands) of boys and girls names. You can search all names or names by a specific category (such as, African-American names, Biblical names, Anglo-Saxon names, Gaelic names, etc.).
For example, if you have a student named "Suzanne" you could include this information (from the website) in her birthday card:
SUZANNE. (French and Hebrew.) Suzanne means "Lily." It is a variant of the Hebrew word Susannah. In the apocryphal Book of Tobit Susannah courageously defended herself against wrongful accusation. White lilies grew in the Biblical city of Susa in Persia.
Before including "name derivation" information in birthday cards, I recommend that you check the names of all of your students to ensure that you can provide information for everyone and to be certain that no one might be embarrassed by the meaning of their name.
The Keaau Seminary class in Hawaii paints a smooth rock white all over. On one side they write Happy Birthday (Name) of the person being celebrated, and on the other side they write "Seminary Rocks!" Then they let everyone else in the class sign their name on the rock using permanent marker pens. The rock is presented in class. It's fun and economical.
One teacher mentioned that she places a single birthday candle in the middle of a chocolate candy bar and invites the class to sing happy birthday. (If you do this inside of a church building, though, you will need to wait until you're outside in order to light the candle.)
Another teacher coordinates with the music director in her ward so that the birthday student gets to select one of the hymns sung during the sacrament meeting nearest to their birthday.
There are an unlimited number of inexpensive and easy ways to recognize your student's birthdays. The best one is the one that works best for you and your students!
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A fun way to personalize Seminary is to recognize students on their birthdays.
Also... make sure you don't forget your students who have summer birthdays. This is easily done by celebrating Half Birthdays (for example, if a student is born on August 12th, you can celebrate their Half Birthday on February 12th).
By celebrating both Half Birthdays and Birthdays, you can start anytime during the school year because everyone can receive recognition.
Birthday recognition does not have to be fancy or expensive. Most of the birthday fun at Seminary lies in the recognition itself. A simple birthday card (with a short message from you and your Seminary class officers), singing Happy Birthday with your class, and letting the student pick the devotional song are easy actions for you -- but fun for your students.
Here is a website you can use, if you would like to personalize your student birthday cards with some unusual birthday and birth month information:
For example, did you know that October is National Pizza Month, Eat Country Ham Month, International Drum Month, and National Popcorn Popping Month? And October 12th, for example, is "Moment of Frustration Day?"
To possibly save you some preparation time...
Please note that there is a ready-made birthday card master in the Old Testament Volume 2 Seminary Scripture Mastery Resource packet that you can photocopy (perhaps on colored paper), fold, personalize and give to your students. The front of the card contains birthday wishes and Old Testament banner representations for the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Judah. The inside contains a scripture mastery scripture and room for birthday wishes.
