October 2026 General Conference › Lessons › Elder Ciro Schmeil › Adults
From This Day: Realigning Our Lives with Our Covenants
From “Consider Your Ways, and from This Day Will the Lord Bless You,” by Elder Ciro Schmeil · Sunday morning session, October 2026 General Conference
The big idea
When we consider our ways and adjust our lives to make and keep covenants, we are yoked with Jesus Christ and the Lord magnifies our efforts.
Objective
Learners will explain what the account of Haggai teaches about priorities and covenants, and will choose one specific adjustment that puts their covenants with God first.
Before you teach
- Read Elder Schmeil's talk, especially the paragraphs on the sacrament and on Haggai.
- Read Haggai 1:5–7, 9; Haggai 2:19; and Matthew 11:28–30.
- Bring a paper bag with a few holes cut in the bottom and a handful of coins or buttons.
- Bring a slip of paper and a pen for each person.
- Write on the board: Doing much. Accomplishing much?
Lesson plan
Thirty minutes in 5 parts. Times are a guide; let the Spirit and the learners set the pace.
A bag with holes
- Begin with prayer. If you wish, sing or read the words of I Need Thee Every Hour.
- Without explaining, drop the coins into the bag and let them fall through onto the table. Point to the words on the board.
- Give each person a slip of paper. Invite one minute of silent writing in answer to the first question below. Tell them no one will see it.
- Invite one or two people to share the second question aloud, in general terms.
- Where in your life right now are you working hard and still feeling that little is staying in the bag?
- What does that kind of tiredness feel like?
What happened in Haggai's day
- Explain that Elder Schmeil took the title of his talk from the prophet Haggai. The Lord had commanded the Israelites to rebuild the temple, but they did not make it a priority.
- Form groups of three or four. Ask each group to read Haggai 1:5–7, 9 and list what was going wrong for the people and the reason the Lord gave.
- Read aloud Elder Schmeil's explanation: “Although they were doing much, they were not accomplishing much because God’s holy house was not a priority in their lives.”
- Ask the groups to read Haggai 2:19 and find what changed, and when. Point out that, as Elder Schmeil taught, the blessing was promised as soon as they started to rebuild.
- Bring the class together for the questions below. Let several people answer before you add anything.
- The people were not idle. What is the difference between being busy and being aligned with God's will?
- Why do you think the Lord said “From this day will I bless you” at the start of the rebuilding and not at the end?
- When have you seen the Lord magnify a small effort to put Him first?
Yoked with the Savior
- Explain that Elder Schmeil named two divine helps God has given us for mortality: the Savior Jesus Christ and our covenants.
- Invite someone to read Matthew 11:28–30 aloud while the class listens for what the Savior invites us to do and what He promises.
- Read Elder Schmeil's sentence: “It is through covenants that we become yoked with the Savior Jesus Christ and our burdens become lighter.”
- Ask learners to turn to one person nearby and discuss the first question for two minutes, then invite a few to share with everyone.
- Share Elder Schmeil's teaching that Heavenly Father is not asking us to physically build a temple; He is asking us to build a strong relationship with Him and His Son through our covenants.
- How has keeping a covenant made a burden lighter for you, even when the burden itself did not go away?
- What does it look like, on an ordinary weekday, to build a relationship with the Father and the Son through covenants?
The weekly covenant
- Read together Elder Schmeil's words about the sacrament prayer: we do not need to be perfect to partake; we need to be willing.
- Read Elder Renlund's promise, which Elder Schmeil quoted (see aligned quotes). Ask learners to listen for what the sacrament does for someone who comes with a broken heart.
- Add Elder Dube's words from this conference (see aligned quotes) as a second witness that we come to Christ as we are.
- Discuss the questions. Be gentle; someone in the room may be in that season of hesitation now.
- Why might a person hesitate to come to church and partake of the sacrament? What would you want that person to know?
- Elder Schmeil said the sacrament has helped him keep his baptismal and temple covenants. How does one covenant help you keep another?
Consider your ways
- Ask learners to turn their slip of paper over. Give two quiet minutes to write an answer to the question below. Suggest they keep it small and specific: one adjustment, not a new life.
- Read the promise Elder Schmeil gave: “He will magnify our efforts as we consider our ways and make the proper adjustments to make and keep covenants with Him.”
- As a check for understanding, ask one person to say in a sentence what the people in Haggai's day learned.
- Bear your testimony that God keeps His promises. Tell the class that next week you will begin by asking who noticed the Lord magnifying an effort. Next week, do that first.
- What is one adjustment that would put your covenants with God ahead of your own house this week?
Key passages from the talk
“Although they were doing much, they were not accomplishing much because God’s holy house was not a priority in their lives.”
“It is through covenants that we become yoked with the Savior Jesus Christ and our burdens become lighter.”
“He will magnify our efforts as we consider our ways and make the proper adjustments to make and keep covenants with Him.”
“In the sacrament prayer we have a good reminder that we do not need to be perfect to partake of the sacrament.”
Scriptures
- Haggai 1:5–7, 9 Read in groups of three or four; list what was going wrong for the people and the reason the Lord gave.
- Haggai 2:19 Read in the same groups; find what the Lord promised and when the promise began.
- Matthew 11:28–30 One person reads aloud; the class listens for the Savior's invitation and His promise, then pairs discuss how covenants yoke us to Him.
- Mosiah 2:41 Offer as home study: read it this week and mark every blessing King Benjamin names for those who keep the commandments.
Other voices that agree
“if you follow the Savior’s direction and go and partake of the sacrament, with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, blessings will pour upon you that will keep you firm, that will keep you solid, that will keep you established on that firm foundation that is Jesus Christ.”
“We do not need to perfect ourselves to come to Christ. We come to Christ to be perfected.”
Three things to remember
- Being busy is not the same as being aligned with God's will.
- Covenants yoke us with Jesus Christ, and with Him our burdens become lighter.
- The Lord blesses us from the day we begin to put Him first.
Ways to act this week
- Make the one adjustment you wrote on your paper, and start it within a day.
- Before the sacrament next Sunday, spend five quiet minutes thinking about what the Savior has done for you.
- If you have hesitated to come and partake of the sacrament, come anyway, willing and as you are. If you are unsure whether you should partake, talk with your bishop.
- Read Mosiah 2:41 and write down one temporal and one spiritual blessing you have received for keeping a commandment.
Suggestions written for this lesson, not the speaker’s words.
Music
- I Need Thee Every Hour
- Come unto Jesus
Adapting the lesson
- At home with two or three adults: skip the groups, read Haggai together aloud, and take turns answering every question.
- Large class: keep the Haggai groups to neighbors turning their chairs, and take only two responses per question.
- Short on time: do the bag with holes, the Haggai reading, and the closing writing; send Matthew 11:28–30 home as study.
This lesson is an independent study aid written for this site. It is not an official lesson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Quotations are word for word from the official talk; paragraph numbers count the paragraphs of the talk as published at churchofjesuschrist.org, not counting headings or picture captions. The activities, questions and ideas for acting are suggestions; follow the Spirit and adapt them to those you teach.