At times, a goal may not be achieved first time we endeavor to gain it. Many times a major goal can be accomplished through a succession of smaller goals or building gradually building our mindset to achieve a specific goal. I hope today’s lesson can be of use to youth ministries, family counselors, family devotionals and home evening groups.

At church, I have gained some wonderful advice. One great point is that before I face a challenge of a moral concept that I should make a decision on how I may respond to certain temptation. Prior to actually facing that challenge, if I already have my decision made, and all I have to do is follow through and not have to debate making a difficult decision when I’m highly tempted to do something I may later regret.

Making a decision is like tying a knot in a rope, cord or thread. A small knot when pulled to the material may pop through because the knot is not large enough to be stopped by the material. However, if you carefully tie a second knot around the first knot the ball of thread or rope becomes thicker, making it more difficult to pass through the material. Tie the knot a third time and it becomes even more difficult to pass through. This is how we can accomplish our goals. If you want to remain chaste, for example, it can be easier by making an early decision before we faced temptation to be chase. Then as we already decided how we will respond that is the first temptation. We have made the foundation knot. The second, larger, knot is accomplished by following through with our previous decision and not compromising ourselves when tempted. That second knot secures and supports the first. The knot becomes bigger still want we continue to resist the same temptation.

Another way to think of this is if you want to accomplish a goal of serving the Lord, by becoming more spiritually active. We might already be attending church weekly and we’ve established a pattern of that. But now we want to do something more. Making such a decision is our first knot. Our decision to read the scriptures daily is our second knot. We even establish reading the scriptures as a habit. The third-larger knot gets created by working on daily prayer and pausing in our prayers to give Heavenly Father a chance to inspire us through the Holy Spirit.

Here is a third way our using the knot in a rope concept. What of our goal to gain a higher education? The first knot is making that decision. The second knot might be saving money for it and study hard in high school, so we have good grades. The third is that we work efficiently in college to get good grades and learn our craft.

Think of all the wonderful, talented people in the world who excel in their careers. Think who you know who can play instruments well, or those who play sports. Each of these talented people took hours and hours practicing to excel in their abilities. As Christians, we endeavor to live good lives through daily practice. Work at it hard enough and consistently enough and we become more successful in our goals.

Today’s object lesson: a long strip of road or several long strands of court or stream.

Tie the first knot in the rope and talk about the goal as it’s first created. Then tie the second knot on top of the first and how that knot can prevent the end of the thread from going through the material.

Another way to implement this concept is by tying a succession of knots along a rope or thread. Talk about how successions of goals climbing up the rope ladder. Climbing the succession of knots/smaller goals can help you accomplish a major goal. Talk by achieving smaller goals through the climb.

If you have any ideas of how to contribute to this concept, please feel free to share them in the comment section this blog. Thank you