On Sunday, I decided to teach the dreaded modesty lesson. There’s only one lesson I think is worse to teach to teenage girls and that’s chastity. Needless to say, I was not looking forward to this particular lesson, even though I knew it was something that needed to be addressed.
I had been thinking about this lesson for weeks, trying to decide the best way to get my point across and help the young women see how important it was to be modest in a world that ever increasingly immodest. I decided on an object lesson.
I’d heard about a time when Pres. Packer taught the missionaries about delivering the right message by using a cake. He had a beautiful cake and asked if anyone wanted a piece of cake. Of course, everyone wanted a piece. So Pres. Packer dug his hand into the cake, threw a piece at one of the missionaries, and then asked if anyone else wanted a piece. After that demonstration, nobody else wanted a piece of cake. The point being, the way you “serve” your message is as important as the message itself.
I thought this would be perfect for our young women. I got a cake and displayed it in front of the room. When the girls walked in, they all accused me of being cruel since it was 3:00 on a fast Sunday and they were all starving. I started the lesson by saying, “Who wants a piece of cake?” Of course, several hands shot up. So I picked up a plate, dug my hand deep into the cake, and threw this piece of cake on a plate. I gave it to one of the girls who wanted the cake. And she started to eat it! OK, just one girl ate the cake, no big deal right? So I said, “Anyone else want a piece?” And wouldn’t you know it, more hands went up. So I did the same thing. And that girl also ate the cake. Once again I said, “Anyone else want a piece of cake?” And more hands went up! This time I really smooshed the cake into the plate and played with it in my hands before putting it on the plate. I said things like, “I’ve been shaking a lot of hands today, I wiped boogers off of a kid’s face, I went to the bathroom and didn’t wash my hands.” And wouldn’t you know it, the girls still ate that dang cake!
Pretty soon I ran out of plates so I stopped offering the cake. I really didn’t think anyone would actually eat the cake! I even had a girl ask if she could lick the frosting off my fingers! I drew the line at that one and said, “no.”
The point of this object lesson was supposed to be that no matter how beautiful the cake (aka, the girls) nobody will want to eat it if it’s not presented in the right way (aka, the way they dress). Since everyone ate the cake, I hope this doesn’t mean the girls will all want to wear short skirts now!
It doesn’t end there. I had one of the girls send me a message on Facebook yesterday. She said, “That cake was so good!”
And that, my friends, is how not to share an object lesson.
3 comments:
oh that is hilarious! though i cannot believe they didn't care that you smashed up the cake and said all those things. i think my YW would take the cake too. sigh. btw- i had to do the chastity lesson! erk!
:( Sad day. Should have asked them to eat play dough. Oh, I know. You could have disguised the play dough as a beautiful chocolate cake. Then the girls would think twice before eating the next chocolate cake.
On another note, I saw the new Jane Eyre movie yesterday. There was a great part about chastity. Mr. Rochestor told Jane they could live together as husband and wife. No one would know. But Jane said, "I would know," and left. It was amazing.
I asked a young Beehive in our ward about the cake. She got the message as soon as I told her about putting your hand in it. So,my question, "Are Young Women in Payson smarter than in Springville?" lol
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