Object Lesson on the Iron Rod
by Lori Colby / ga10012006
 

As missionaries, we always used a pencil or pen as our object lesson and talked about how you have to hold on the rod with all of your fingers and that each finger represented something need to hold onto the gospel - saying personal prayers, paying tithing, living word of wisdom, reading scriptures, attending church, etc. There's obviously more than 5 things we need to do to hold on to the rod, so he could talk about whatever ones he wants to focus on.

Then, we would show what happens if the pinky is pulled back and away - what happens? The other fingers end up losing their grip as well. If one finger gets pulled away or is not holding on to the rod, the other fingers become at risk. If we stop reading our scriptures, we become more susceptible to not going to church or not saying our prayers. Gradually, our fingers fall away from the rod. We also mentioned that the thumb was an extra protection to us - to help keep our fingers grasping the iron rod. The thumb could represent several things - renewing our covenants, enduring to the end, etc.