Blessings of the Priesthood

For Sr. Primary Sharing Time, I taught about the blessings we can all receive through the power of the priesthood.  This is how it went:

I walked to the front of the Primary Room carrying a plate full of delicious cupcakes.  The children "Oooohhhed and Aaaaahhhed" magnificently!  

While I held up the plate of cupcakes, I reminded the children about what was talked about last week during Middle Exercises,  about how Jesus showed his love by serving others while here on earth.  That is the best kind of love.  Cards and candies are good too, but I encouraged them to serve someone for Valentine's Day and make that their focus rather than all the candy they would receive.

So I explained that I wanted to serve my very good friends by making them a cupcake.  Sis. Goodin is a wonderful friend!  She came up to the front and I presented her with a cupcake. While giving it to her, I expressed my gratitude for our friendship & how I treasure the time we've been able to serve together & how much I learn from her.  As I was saying this, she began to smash the cupcake in her hands.  I looked down & saw what she was doing.  My face fell. The children were up in arms about what she was doing!  "What are you doing?"  "Oh, I'll eat it if you don't want it!",  "She's crazy!", and so on and so on.  I asked her why she was smashing it. She nonchalantly said she didn't like sugar much.  I told her that I had made the chocolate frosting.  It was the first time I'd made homemade chocolate frosting!  She rudely said she preferred dark chocolate anyway.  Can you believe it?!?  I even told her that I had gone to Walmart on VALENTINE'S DAY  at 6:00 at night just to find 1 of the last 3 containers of Cinnamon Hearts!!  Well, she didn't care.  She turned and threw the cupcake in the garbage on her way out the door.

Oh, the children just couldn't believe it!  My face showed that I was hurt by Sis. Goodin's actions.  I asked the children if there was something wrong with the way I presented my gift to her.  "No!  She's the one with the problem!"  "She's crazy!",  "I would have eaten it for her!" This gave me courage.  So I asked another friend of mine to come to the front.  I presented Sis. Tailleur with a cupcake in the same way I did to Sis. Goodin.  But Sis. Tailleur smiled, expressed her thanks and raved about how beautiful it was, how good it smelled, and how she couldn't wait to taste it.  She took a bite and "Mmmmmed" with great affection!  I turned back to the children and explained to them that I love my friends.  I still love Sis. Goodin, even though she didn't receive my gift.  Friends are a wonderful blessing in our lives.  I have another friend, too. He has given me something that has blessed my life.  He is your friend, too.  He loves you and I much more than I love all of you & my friends.  His name is Jesus Christ.  

I then put up the GAK pictures of the Restoration of the Aaronic and Melkizedek Priesthood through the Prophet Joseph Smith.  I talked about the beautiful way He sent Heavenly Angels to bestow the keys of the priesthood to the prophet.  We now have the priesthood here on the earth.  We can receive the blessings of it even though we don't hold the priesthood ourselves yet.  How can we do that?  Well, by making righteous decisions everyday!  

I then passed around a bag full of strips of paper.  On each paper was written either a sin (bad choice) or a righteous quality (or good choice).   For each righteous quality, Sis. Tailleur got to take a bite of her cupcake.  For each sin, she couldn't take a bite.  The children eagerly took a paper out of the bag. Every child got to say what was on them.  We had discussions about various words or situations that came up.  We talked about what they can do if their friends start telling dirty jokes, or if when they see immodest pictures.  We talked about what the word "wholesome" means and how we are to watch good movies or listen to uplifting music.  Oh, and the power of having a scripture, quote, or primary songs memorized to help them from dwelling on the immodest or improper things that are thrown at them everyday.  

Sis. Tailleur was eating her cupcake as quickly as the children could say a righteous quality!  By the time it was the last child's turn to say what was written on his paper, she was down to her last bite.  Luckily, the last paper said "be humble".   She got to eat the whole cupcake!!!!   There were many cheers!  

To wrap it up, I explained that we have all been given the gift of the blessings received through the power of the priesthood.  We can choose what to do with it.  We can choose to smash it in our hands and let it squish between our fingers, or we can partake of it and ingest the blessings that come from making righteous decisions every day.  It's a wonderful thing to fill peace, joy, contentment, fulfillment, and love by living righteously and honoring the power of the priesthood.  

So the next time you see a cupcake, you will remember how you can enjoy the many, many blessings through the power of the priesthood!