Tell me Dear Lord
 

This song is actually a prayer with a melody. When we pray to Heavenly Father we use special words, or “prayer language,” to show Him honor and love. Ask the children to listen for those words as you sing the song. Write on the board as the children recall the words thine, thou, and thy. Refer to these words as you continue teaching the song. As you teach the first line, direct the children’s thinking by asking, “In whose way are we asking that our prayers be answered?” Sing the first line. Invite the children to respond to the question (“thine own”—the Lord’s). Sing the first line together. Continue teaching the song the same way with each line. Say, “We are asking for guidance in something today. What is it?” Sing the second line, have them echo and respond (“what thou would’st have me say and do”). Ask, “What do we want Him to teach us?” Sing the third line. Have them echo and respond (“to know and love thy will”). Ask, “What do we need help in understanding?” Sing the last line. Have them echo and respond (“thy loving word”). Sing the whole song, share D&C 112:10, and testify that prayers are answered. [Idea from July 2006 Friend Sharing Time Suggestion]
 

(Idea by Karine Maynard)  Here is what I did to teach verse two: I taped a picture of the Greg K. Olsen painting "Be Not Afraid" onto the board. It depicts Jesus helping two children across a river. If you can't find it elsewhere, it's on the cover of the 2007 CSMP outline. I covered it with a large white sheet of paper that I had cut into puzzle pieces and taped on individually. As I sang the verse through several times, I had one child at a time come up and remove a puzzle piece until the entire picture was revealed. Then I asked the following questions:

Ask: What is Jesus doing in this picture? (Helping two children, guiding one by the hand and holding the other, etc.)

Sing "I would be guided by thy loving hand" and have the children echo it back.

Ask: What do you imagine Jesus might be saying to these children?  (Hold tightly to my hand/shoulder, don't let go, don't look down, etc.)

Ask: Do you think these children followed the directions Jesus gave them? (Of course! They wanted to be safe)

Sing "Would hear thy voice, obey thy blest command" and have the children echo it back

Ask: How close is Jesus to these children? (Very near, holding one close and holding the hand of the other)

Sing "Each moment just to know that thou art near" and have the children echo it back

Ask: How do you think the children in the painting feel with Jesus near them? (Happy, safe, not scared, strong, etc.)

Prayer helps us to feel Jesus near us, just like He is near these children. When we feel Him near we feel strong and safe.

Sing "Will strength impart and banish ev'ry fear" and have the children echo back

Sing entire song while displaying painting.

This worked great with both my Jr. and Sr. kids. They were very engaged the whole time. With the junior primary, I covered the picture up with a whole sheet of paper before each question so they had to think back and remember what it looked like. Then I uncovered it again when we would sing.
 

(Idea by Shauna)  I have been struggling with this song. I didn’t think the kids were “getting” it. I had a “plan” for today and when I got to church, I felt I needed to do something different. I got a bunch of paper and some markers. I sang a line and then had a child come up and draw a picture to represent what that line said and meant. They were extremely perceptive and showed they really understood the concepts. They still sing it more weakly than I am accustomed, but they got the meaning of the song which is the most important part. By the way, it worked for both junior and senior.  This is what they drew:

- “I would be guided by thy loving hand” they drew a direction arrow, a heart and a hand
- “would hear thy voice” they drew an ear and a child praying
- “obey they blest command” the sr. drew the 10 Commandments and the jr drew a rainbow so I said Noah was commanded to build a boat to save his family from the flood. He obeyed that commandment and he and his family were saved from the flood….
-“each moment just to know that thou art near” they drew a clock and a child praying and a cloud near the child
-“will strength impart and banish every fear” they drew a strong arm and then they drew something they were afraid of with a circle around it and a line through it (sr. was a spider and jr. was the dark). We then talked about what banishment and impart means.
 

(Idea by Nancy Wells) I found a cute idea in The Friend that I am going to use as I introduce "Tell Me, Dear Lord" to the Juniors on Sunday. You make some puppets with a head and two arms (sorta looks like a ghost) and put faces on them. Then you say this poem:

Some people talk face to face (have the puppets bow to each other)
And when they can't talk face to face,
They sometimes talk on the telephone. (Move your thumbs to the ears of the puppets)
And when they can't talk face to face (have the puppets bow to each other again)
Or talk on the telephone , (move your thumbs to the puppets' ears)
They sometimes write letters. (move thumbs to imitate writing a letter)
But when we talk to Heavenly Father,
We don't talk face to face, (have the puppets bow to teach other)
Or on the telephone, (move your thumbs to the puppets' ears)
Or write letters. (move thumbs to imitate writing a letter)
Instead, we pray.
When we pray, we fold our arms (cross each thumb to touch the little finger on that same hand)
And bow our heads. (bow the head of each puppet)

I figure that will get their attention and we can talk about praying and prayer language and learn the song.
 

(Credit Unknown)  Here's what I used for "Tell Me Dear Lord". They're all GAK pictures.  We discussed how they went with each phrase when I introduced the song.

#227 - Jesus in Gethsemane - "Tell me, Dear Lord, in thine own way I pray" (picture of Jesus praying in his way)

#114 - Daniel refusing king's meat - "What thou wouldst have me say and do today" - (Daniel was doing what the Lord wants)

#212 - Sermon on the Mount - "Teach me to know and love thy will, O Lord" - (Jesus teaching)

#402 - Joseph Smith reading Bible - "Help me to understand thy loving word" - (Joseph later prayed for understanding of Bible)

#302 - Lehi & Liahona - "I would be guided by thy loving hand" - (Liahona provided guidance)

#219 - Jesus with Mary & Martha - "Would hear thy voice, obey thy blest command" - (Mary & Martha heard Jesus' voice)

#2 - Jesus healing blind man - "Each moment just to know that thou art near" - (Jesus was there for the blind man)

#112 - David & Goliath - "Will strength impart and banish every fear" - (David was given strength and courage)
 

(Idea by Linzee from Georgia)  For Junior primary, I will play the song on cd with words and music and ask them to listen to the words carefully while it is playing. I will then ask them to tell me what they think that the song is about. We will talk a little about prayer and the words "thine", "thy", "thou", etc. Then I am using GAK pictures to teach it a line at a time. For now, I will just stick to the first verse in Junior Primary. In Senior, I am going to play the song and start out the same, but I am going to write all of the words to the song on the black board. I got some scrabble tiles with all of the the first letters from each word. I will have them draw out a letter and erase all of the words that begin with that letter. We will continue doing that singing the song after each time. I am also putting in a few blank (free) tiles where they can choose to erase any word they want to.