Elder Mathias Held (Apr. 19): "Seeking Knowledge by the Spirit"

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I enjoyed this talk quite a bit.  I make use of Elder Held's analogy for the object lesson I have created below:

The Activity:

  1. Bring a soft ball with you to class-- it should be fairly soft and needs to be able to be caught and thrown with a single hand.
  2. Ask for a volunteer.
  3. Have the volunteer stand about 20-25 feet away (7-8 meters) and have them catch the ball with one hand as you toss the ball back and forth.
  4. Now, ask the volunteer to cover one eye (you can do the same, if you wish) with a hand.
  5. Resume tossing and catching the ball.  The volunteer will have a more difficult time catching the ball and throwing it accurately.  You will, too, if you choose to cover one of your eyes.
  6. After a few tosses, ask them about the experience.
  7. Ask the class why it is harder to catch and throw a ball with one eye covered.  It has nothing to do with only using one hand.  You can do it with eye patches, if you want.  With one eye blocked, your eyes cannot provide you the right depth perception.  You can almost see as well as before, but not quite.  
  8. Read and discuss, Elder Held's analogy of this phenomenom in par. 23-24 "I like to  . . . that additional source."
Using the Activity:

I tend not to use object lessons as often as I probably should because they do not always come naturally to me.  In this case, though, this idea jumped off the page as I read the talk.  I think this is a valuable lesson because, as with most object lessons, it is highly memorable.  Seeing someone who suddenly has trouble catching/throwing a ball simply because they are covering an eye will stick with many people-- especially people who learn in ways that are not traditional (speaking/listening/ reading, i.e. the way we do most classes in the Church).

I would offer only one bit of caution with this activity:  Beware of pushing the analogy too far.  Every analogy has a breaking point and it can be easy to push too far.  

As always, I hope that this idea is helpful.  God bless you in your efforts to teach with power and authority.

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