3 Nephi 10:6
“O ye house of Israel whom I have spared, how oft will I gather you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, if ye will repent and return unto me with full purpose of heart.”
As we are learning about the Gathering of Israel of course we will talk about the Lord gathering His people. Our job is to return and repent.
My aunt shared this story with me which enriches the metaphor of Jesus as the mother hen.
“... The student, a young man, had been helping inspect some fire damage just outside of town from a recent blaze. As he and the others volunteer were assisting one of the inspectors, they noticed several smoldering mounds across the scorched earth. Intrigued, he asked the inspector what these were. The inspector replied that he should kick one of the piles. He did. To his great surprise several baby Sage Grouse chicks ran out from under the upturned mound. He was fascinated. How ingenious he thought, these little chicks had known to run underneath this refuge. The young man asked the inspector how the chicks knew about this natural shelter. To his amazement, the inspector replied that they were not natural at all; instead this smoldering heap was none other than the remains of their mother. The inspector continued to explain that when a fire breaks out the mother hen calls out to her young ones and stretches out her arm so that they can run inside to her protective embrace. The young man was profoundly moved by this mother's loving and sufficient self-sacrifice. How fitting that the Lord would personify the mother hen in his words to the Nephites and Lamanites. How perfect is this example for us today! "O ye house of Israel whom I have spared, how oft will I gather as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings" (3 Nephi 10:6).
While I didn’t share this story with my children, there is a story of a mother hen gathering her chicks in The Millennial Instructor: The True Olive Tree. There is one little chick named “Headstrong” who doesn’t think he needs his mother until he is put in harms way and returns to his mother for protection. We talked about returning and repenting so the Savior can protect us.
We did this adorable little hen craft I found online. We don’t have a printer so I cut out the pieces just “eye-balling” it on the shape and the proportions. Then the kids glued it all together. We used card stock for the back and the wing.
Instructions are found here.
We also used the “Gathering Of Israel“ workbook made by Meg Daines of The Duet Podcast and her daughter. There is a page where you can copy 3 Nephi 10:6 in print or cursive and color a picture of a hen covering her chicks with her wings. I printed 3 copies so I could join in with my 3 & 5 year old. They stay engaged much longer when I am also doing the project.
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