As an attention getter, I played the LDS commercial that has the line, "Daddy, can you read me a story?" and it ends with "Isn't it about ...time?" The point is that we sacrifice our TIME and spend it on those most important to us, our families. Then gave President Kimball's famous quote, "No success and compensate for failure in the home."

I received permission to play this song and presented it with a personal story:  Our daughters bought tickets and treated my husband and I to the Tim McGraw concert last week. At the end Kenny Chesney brought Tim and Faith Hills daughter, Maggie, out on stage. You could see there was a very special relationship between Tim an his daughter. This is a man who could buy anything in the world that he wanted, but takes precious time to nurture his relationship with his family. Earlier in the show, Tim sang, "Grown Men Don 't Cry", and as he sang the last verse his voice grew husky and you could tell there was a lot of emotion going on. To hold it together, he turned from the audience and hit his fist against his palm, just to stay in control. Then I played the last verse of the song, "Grown Men Don't Cry" -- here's the words:

"I'm sitting here with my kids and my wife and everything that I hold dear in my life. We say grace and thank the Lord, got so much to be thankful for. Then it's up the stairs and off to bed and my little girl says I haven't had my story yet, and everything weighing on my mind disappears just like that, when she lifts her head and says I love you dad. Who says grown men don't cry ..."

I emphasized the importance of giving gratitude for all we have, and as we become humble and grateful we gain a deep desire to serve the Lord.

I followed the lesson and resource material, then had a YW present a monolog about one of her ancestors experience of sacrifice as they crossed the plains. (She even brought pictures and clothing from her ancestor.)

I also slipped in three other video clips:

The LDS commercial about a poor family driving out into the country to buy apples. Just before the family drove away, the owner of the apple stand asked his son to put another bushel of apples into their trunk, even though they didn't have money for it. It ends by saying something like, "Who you are depends a lot by what you do along the way."

The LDS commercial that starts with boys playing basketball while a new family moves into a house. The boys approach and eventually offer to help. It ends with the scripture, "When saw we a stranger? ..."

The movie, "Little Women" has a touching Christmas dinner. The family is very poor and the girls are so excited to have such a wonderful feast. Their mother is still out helping a German family who have lost their father and have nothing. One by one, the girls suggest they offer parts of the dinner. The scene moves to the girls cheerfully singing as they tromp through the snow to take their Christmas dinner to the poor German family. At the end of this scene the girls sing "love and joy come to you ..." I ended by promising the girls that love and joy will come to them, more than their hearts can hold, as they give gratitude and sacrifice for the Lord.

I also had another leader read this quote, and after asked the girls what "animal" in their life were they willing to put on the sacrificial alter and have consumed in order to serve the Lord.

Neil Maxwell said it so eloquently, "It is that real, personal sacrifice never was placing an animal on the altar. Instead, it is a willingness to put the animal in us upon the altar and letting it be consumed! Such is the "sacrifice unto the Lord . of a broken heart and a contrite spirit," (D&C 59:8), a prerequisite to taking up the cross, while giving "away all [our] sins" in order to "know God" (Alma 22:18) for the denial of self precedes the full acceptance of Him."

I did up book marks with this quote: "Plant your seeds in sacrifice and watch them bloom with blessings." Using a satin ribbon, I attached a stretchy beaded bracelet that has a flower on top.

Then on a half-sheet, I did up a handout on mint green cardstock: "Sacrifice Was Never 'Mint' To Be Easy" -- and attached a chocolate covered mint patty. Under this I added:

"The primary purpose of the law of sacrifice still is to test us and assist us in coming unto Christ. After the Savior's ultimate sacrifice, two adjustments were made in the practice of this law. First, the ordinance of the sacrament replaced the ordinance of sacrifice; and second, this change moved the focus of the sacrifice from a person's animal to the person himself. In a sense, the sacrifice changed from the offering to the offered."

"So it is that real, personal sacrifice never was placing an animal on the altar. Instead, it is a willingness to put the animal in us upon the altar and letting it be consumed!"
Neil A. Maxwell

"What we must be willing to do is to sacrifice whatever is required of us, whether time, or talent, or riches, or the praise and honor of men, or whatever it may be, to the extent the Lord may require it"
Loren C. Dunn.

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