Dog Poop Cookies

We had the topic of Purity and Righteousness in primary today; I hate topics like this for 7 year olds, especially when the lesson is 2 pages long of actual material and you know it won't take up the whole time or keep their attention long enough to help them understand the material. So to get the point across, I made cookies for the class. They were excited to have treats, I brought them on a beautiful dish, and they smelled delightful. I told them I had a secret ingredient that I wanted them to guess, after going through the basics (flour, eggs, sugar, chocolate chips) a kid called out, bugs! I said "Close!" and their eyes got big, they continued guessing until I finally told them that it was just a little bit of dog poop, only a smidge. Their eyes were huge and their mouths dropped open, some smiled not believing me, but were still shifting in their seats. We talked about how even little things can make a difference in our lives; listening to bad music, watching bad shows, not being kind to people around us, saying bad words and unkind things to others, taking bad things into our bodies that can hurt us, etc. How saying just one puff won't hurt is the same as saying just a little bit of dog poop in your food isn't a big deal. It made what was a lesson I was dreading into a really good experience, the kids got the object lesson, and one of our nonpartcipatory kids was paying attention to every word from the moment we mentioned there may or may not be dog poop in the cookies we brought. Teaching this made me think about what things I could change to have more sanitary cookies, I feel there are always things that can be improved or that I can be working toward, and that even small changes can invite the Spirit in more as I strive to do what is right. This principle will be my focus throughout the week.