When I started teaching the lesson, I was holding a big, delicious-looking cake. I just held it in front of me while I spoke. A lot of the YW kept looking at the cake, instead of me. I said "guys - I'm trying to talk to you - please pay attention to me!" One beehive said "Can I have some of that cake?" and I said "Not right now - ignore the cake, and please just listen to me speak! Just ignore the cake!" she said "I can't, it looks so good!" And I said - "how hard is it to concentrate on what people are saying when there is something tempting right in front of your face? If you want people to pay attention to YOU, cover yourself up - or they will only be distracted and focused on a part of your body, instead of YOU"
A feather, a large rock
Place the feather on a table and ask someone to come and blow the feather off the table. Place the rock on the table and have another person come and try to blow it off the table. You may want to have several people together try to blow the rock off the table.
Discussion: We must be strong. Our testimonies must be form, solid, and built on the rock of revelation. Our foundation must be the Savior and we must believe in and follow the prophet of God. If we have this foundation, we will not be blown away by temptations.
Psalms 18:2
Ephesians 4:14
3 Nephi 14:24-25
D&C 8:2-3
A raw egg, food coloring, hypodermic needle (see your local pharmacy), a clear bowl.
Color the inside of the egg by injecting it with the needle full of food coloring.
Show the egg. Put it into the clear bowl. Ask your family to tell you everything they know about an egg. Describe an egg. What is the egg's potential? What are its uses? What would you expect to find inside an egg? How do you know all this about an egg? Crack open the egg into the bowl and watch your family's reaction.
What changed the egg's contents? We are born as special children of God. Why do we sometimes fall short of our potential? What do we sometimes let enter into our lives that keeps us from reaching our potential?
"All the water in all the world, no matter how hard it tried, could never sink the smallest ship, unless it got inside. And all the evil in all the world, the blackest kind of sin, could never hurt you the least little bit unless you let it in." (Author unknown)
Psalms 119:11
Proverbs 21:4
2 Peter 2:14
2 Nephi 4:27; 9:49
D&C 10:25-26
A fly swatter
Show the fly swatter and ask your family what it is. What is it for? (Killing flies.) What other insects can we swat? Why do we use fly swatters? (To keep our homes cleaner and to be free from annoying insects.) What are things in our spiritual lies we can and should swat? Read Mosiah 4:30
If we allow flies to fly freely in our homes, what could happen? (They would lay eggs, there would be more flies, more disease.) What happens if we let our thoughts fly freely without watching them? What kind of thoughts should we swat? (Negative, immoral, angry, vengeful, mean, etc.) Discuss ways to keep our thoughts positive, moral, kind, etc.
Isaiah 55:7
Matthew 15:17-20
Mosiah 4:30
D&C 88:69
One small sewing needle or pin.
Hold the pin up in the air and tell the participants that you are going to conduct an experiment. You are going to drop the pin on the desk and would like everyone to be quiet so they can all hear it. Drop the pin and have all participants who heard it raise their hands. Repeat the experiment until each has a chance to hear the pin drop.
This experiment can be compared to how one can hear the whisperings of the still small voice. Ask why the Spirit is often described in this way. Why do they think it is also described as being something that pierces to the center and causes your bones to quake? Explain that the Spirit whispers so that only those who are listening can hear it. Do your daily surroundings make it easier or more difficult to hear the Spirit of the Lord?
1 Kings 19:12
Mark 4:24
1 Nephi 17:45
D&C 85:6, 101:16
A bowl of ice cream
Delicious topping for the ice cream
Ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise
Begin by showing your participants a bowl of ice cream. Ask what kinds of topping they like on their ice cream. (Chocolate, caramel, whipped cream, etc.) Now place the delicious topping on the ice cream and ask who would like to eat some. (Most should.) Pull out your bottle of ketchup and explain that you especially love ketchup on your ice cream, as you add not only ketchup but mustard and mayonnaise to the bowl. Again ask which participants would like to eat the ice cream. (None should want to now, but if one should volunteer, let him/her eat some.)
Explain that there is nothing wrong with ketchup, mustard or mayonnaise. They are good, just not on an ice cream sundae. Ask what type of activities are not good on a Sunday? Compare the ice cream example to activities that are not good to participate in on Sundays. Hold up the bowl of ice cream and ask them if this is what they are giving to the Lord on his day. Encourage them to engage in activities that keep the Lord's day holy.
Exodus 20:8
Luke 23:56
D&C 59:9-12
Moses 3:2-3
Paper for each participant
Pens or Pencils for each participant
Have a volunteer come up to the table with a piece of paper on it. Without lifting the pencil off the paper, have them draw a simple unfamiliar pattern without letting the other participants see it. (Not just a simple shape like a triangle or circle.) Then have the volunteer describe the pattern to the others.
As the volunteer describes the pattern, have the other participants draw their own copy of the shape based on the verbal description. When all of the instructions have been given, have the students compare their drawings and discuss why the drawings look different, as well as where the communication was unclear.
Tell the group that is important to learn to give clear directions. It is also important to listen carefully to the spirit, and to the directions of other good teachers and guides.
Proverbs 29:18
Luke 11:28
Alma 5:46
D&C 20:26
Rope
A cloth to protect the wrists
Ask for two volunteers. Have one tie the other's hands with the rope (over the cloth as not to cause injury or pain). What are things the tied up participant can't do in this condition? What are things that can tie us up spiritually? What do they prevent us from doing or becoming?
When we sin, we restrict our freedom (freedom to feel worthy, freedom to feel happy, etc.). Satan's desire is to blind us and lead us down to hell. He can only do this if we let him. Encourage the participants to be wise and stay away from activities that will tie them up; don't play with the "ropes" of evil.
Isaiah 52: 1-3
Matthew 22: 1-13
2 Nephi 1: 13
Moses 7: 26
Break the breakable item (or show two broken pieces) and have a participant come up and glue them together. Discuss making mistakes and making restitution. Break the egg in the bowl and have another student come up and try to put the egg back together with glue. Discuss why it cannot be done.
Explain that some things can be forgiven but cannot be restored. (Taking someone's virtue, life or sometimes a person's good name.) Teach them the seriousness of those mistakes we cannot mend or restore. Encourage them to stay with and value the gospel principles and to keep the commandments and repent.
Proverbs 28:13
Luke 13: 3
Alma 12: 24
D&C 16: 6; 42:18; 76:32-35
I recently read the book, Angel Children, about a mother who loses her young infant. In it, the author, Mary V. Hill includes a story from Melvin J. Ballard that goes...
"I remember going to a carpet factory where they were making beautiful rugs. I approached from the seamy side. The shuttle was flying back and forth and the warp and woof were being made but there was not any design there. It was all ravelings and ends. It was just like life. When I stepped around on the other side it was another picture. It was the same operation - the same things exactly, only this was the design side. The color was blending; the figure was developing. There was not any failure there. We look at sorrows and we think they are tragedies, but we are only looking at things from the seamy side. There is another side to the picture, the designers side - God's side. And there are no blunders there.
"Some day we will see it. Some day we will be able to say, "The Lord liveth! The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord!"
I found a rug to use as a visual aid as I read this story to our Young Women. You could also use a tapestry or other item that has a beautiful distinct pattern on one side, and a dull, or disarrayed back side. The young women were able to see how God's perspective is so much different than ours... how this life may seem hard and ugly to us, but how He sees the beautiful person we are becoming.
