YW Lesson 41 "Being Dependable"

Object Lesson - Display a watch/clock.
Q: How many of you YW depend on a clock like this to get you out of bed in the morning?
Q: What would happen if this clock were to stop working?

A good watch or clock is very valuable when it tells time accurately. But, a watch or clock, no matter how cool it looks is of little use if you cannot depend on it to tell time accurately.

Teacher Presentation
Read: Sleeping Through The Storm
Q: How/Why could the young man sleep through the storm?

-Discuss what it means to be dependable and list the characterstics on the board.

-On a piece of paper, have the girls think back through their day, week, month and/or year and list all of the people who they have depended on. Have them circle one person on that list.

Quotation

“There is a thought from Confucius that touches upon the point of many personal and public problems. ‘A man who lacks reliability is utterly useless,’ he said. In this there is much of what is wrong with the relationships of man to man—not being reliable, not being able to count on people to perform their part, to do what they say they will do when it needs to be done. And so disappointments and disillusionment occur from day to day. Someone says he’ll have something ready at a certain time, and it just isn’t ready. Someone borrows and says he’ll pay back or bring it back at a certain time, and it just isn’t paid back or brought back. Someone signs a contract and agrees to perform certain services, and just doesn’t do it. The list could be endlessly lengthened. Often there are unavoidable reasons, but sometimes it is lack of reliability—and in some situations this could become not only frustrating but frightening. All this could perhaps be compared to a parachute that opens only part of the time, or to brakes on a car that can’t be counted on consistently. … Suppose we couldn’t count on the promises of God. Suppose the astronauts in orbit couldn’t count on the calculations that others have made, or couldn’t count on the universe being run reliably. Suppose we couldn’t count on the tides, or the sun, or the seasons. It isn’t the hit-and-miss performance that makes life possible, but the degree of reliability, dependability, honesty, consistency that can be counted on. ‘A man who lacks reliability is utterly useless’ ” (Richard L. Evans, “Reliable Once in a While,” Ensign, Oct. 1971, p. 9).

Activity

Have the YW think about the person who they circled on their list. What would be the consequence of him/her had they not been dependable?

Quotation
“A man with whom I am associated as a director in a large company and who is also a government official, said to me on one occasion: ‘We asked for applicants who were prepared to accept a certain job in the government. We had many applicants, and we got them down to ten. As we were considering those ten, we noticed that one of them was a member of your church, and we took him just like that.’
“I said, ‘Why did you take him?’
“He said, ‘Because we knew that he wouldn’t be carousing at night; we knew that we could depend upon him, and we knew that he would do the work assigned to him’ ” (“Dependability,” Ensign, Apr. 1974, p. 4).

Q: How do Church members get such a reputation?
Q: WHY is it important to ahve this reputation?

Quotation
“Each day we must stop and ask ourselves: Am I dependable? Am I strong enough and determined to become the kind of person in whom everyone can have confidence? We have examples all around us of people who had every opportunity to make good and had possibilities of promising careers, and of really making a contribution to the world, but failed because they had not made up their minds and were not strong enough to keep themselves above reproach and withstand the temptations placed before them” (N. Eldon Tanner, “Dependability,” p. 4).

Activity
I adapted the story at the end of the lesson into a script form...just my way of trying to get some participation and not have to read another story! ;^)