At the beginning of class, I asked one girl to come to the front of the room, turned her back to the class, and handed her a softball.  I then asked the rest of the class if there were any that felt comfortable catching the ball.  When one volunteered, I handed her a mitt and instructed her to sit in the middle of the group.  Next, I asked the first volunteer if she felt comfortable tossing the ball to the other.  She said yes because the distance was fairly short and she knew the other girl had great ball handling skills.  At that point, I asked the rest class (including the girl with the mitt) to close their eyes and instructed my first volunteer to toss the ball. over her head to the girl with the mitt.  Naturally, she refused.  When I asked her why she hesitated, she said she couldn’t guarantee her accuracy and was worried someone else might get hurt.

I then pointed out that when we gossip, we are essentially taking that gamble.  Although are intentions may be to direct our comments specifically to one person…even a person that we trust can “handle” the gossip carefully…we cannot guarantee our own accuracy and with our words, endanger those around us.

In the next example, I asked for a volunteer and then proceeded to fill her hand with glitter.  I asked her to try to pass the glitter down the row without losing a single piece.  I offered $20 to the volunteer if she could accomplish this feat.  Although she was terribly careful to pass her handful of glitter to the next person, the others down the line didn’t have the same incentive and were sloppy in their passing.  Glitter was sticking to hands and scattering to the floor.  She decided it would be impossible to retrieve it all, so consequently, she didn’t earn her reward.

I pointed out to the class that gossip is often like the glitter.  We believe we can control it, but once it leaves our mouths we can no longer choose how the information is handled.  Similar to glitter, once gossip is released, it spreads and is virtually impossible to retrieve.

To begin, I asked one of my laurels (who is an art lover) to name one of her favorite artists.  I then asked her, if I removed the name from one of his works, would she still be able to identify it as his?  She said yes, and I had her explain why.  She mentioned that he uses similar and very distinct brush strokes.  I pointed out that our Father in Heaven created our mind, body and Spirit and if we pay attention to the details, we can see the similar patterns or  ”brush strokes” of his craftsmanship.

I began with the body element.  I asked for two volunteers and handed each of them a post-it note.  I asked them to stand close to the wall and jump as high as they could to stick the post-it to the wall.  I then had each of them put their backs on the wall and slide down until their legs formed a right angle.  They were instructed to hold that position for 3 minutes.  The first volunteer was allowed to stop and 2 and one half minutes to stretch and relax.  When the timer beeped they were both given another post-it and asked to immediately jump and stick their post-it on the wall.  The girl that was allowed to rest beat her first mark just slightly.  The other girl’s mark was well below her first.  I pointed out that our muscles thrive on physical challenge only when they are allowed a rest period to recoup.  Otherwise, the tissue can get damaged and we lose strength.

Next we moved on to the mind element.  I again asked for two volunteers.  I had them each go to the chalkboard and told them I would be reading a series of 9 nine numbers.  They were instructed to write down as many as they could remember.  On the first round I read the numbers in groups like this   4-7-8   9-7-9   4-2-0.  Both girls were able to copy the numbers.  I read the next set of numbers fairly quickly without any pauses.  9-5-7-3-1-4-3-8-9.  Although they were fairly close, neither girl was able to get the numbers correctly.  I pointed out that our mind, like our body, thrives when we challenge it.  However, those challenges are most effective when we intersperse them with breaks.  If we push our mind non-stop, we overload and begin to make mistakes.

Finally, we talked about the Spiritual element.  I asked the girls what Spiritual challenges we might face in a given week.  They responded with various temptations and struggles.  I then asked them if they thought the same pattern we’ve seen in the previous two elements would still apply here.  In other words, if our goal is to succeed spiritually, then we must be in the world and face temptations, however, in order to have the greatest chance for success, we must allow our Spirits time to rest and regenerate.  Hence the Sabbath Day commandment.

I also pointed out to the girls that our Heavenly Father created us and wants us to be successful in mind, body and Spirit.  He himself used the 7th day to rest.  If we are made in his image, it would stand to reason that we should follow his example.

At the beginning of class, I held up a new, crisp $20 bill.  I asked the girls if any of them would like it.  I asked the most enthusiastic volunteer to tell the class what she would buy with the cash.  I then took the bill from her, wrinkled it and then asked if she still wanted it.  She, of course, said yes so I took it back and scribbled on it with a pen.  Again, I asked her if she still wanted it.  She said yes, so I took it back and tore it in half.  Once more, I asked her if she wanted it.  She pointed out that she could take it to the bank and exchange it for a new one so she still wanted it.

I held up the wrinkled, scribbled on, torn up $20 bill and asked her what she would buy with it now.  She said her list wouldn’t change because the value of the bill hadn’t changed.

I pointed out that as we sin, we cause wrinkles and damage to our Spirit.  However, regardless of the extent of the damage, our value never changes in the eyes of our Heavenly Father.  He will always see us for our eternal value rather than our earthly wrinkles. Similar to the bank that exchanges old for new, He provided the atonement to allow us to repair the damage and become clean.  When we repent, we must trust in the Lord; look past the wrinkles and see ourselves as our Heavenly Father does, crisp and new.