I told 4 stories (then had them retell the stories and share what they had learned.)
1. I had a short video of a Rabbi sharing a story about lobsters. The lobster's shell is unyielding so when the lobster grows, the lobster gets really uncomfortable and irritated. So the lobster goes under a rock (for protection), sheds it shell and grows a new one, larger one. The process happens over and over again. Without the stress or uncomfortableness- the lobster wouldn't be able to grow.
2. I shared the story that Pres. Brad Oakeson shared in Sacrament meeting a month or so ago. We live by him and can attest to our geese that come back each year to have their babies. The geese had made their nest at the top of their barn- and Brad was curious how in the heck those babies were going to learn to fly. It seemed like a dangerous place. He actually put a wildlife camera by the nest and watched the whole process. When the eggs hatched, within hours, the mother kicked them out of the nest and plunk! They landed 15 ft. below on the ground. Then the goslings hopped up and waddled off.
3. I showed a clip of a Martin Luther King talk. He talks about Keep Moving. If you can't be a tree, be a bush. If you can't run, then walk. If you can't walk, then crawl. But keep moving and be the best that you can be. The decisions that they make now will determine the rest of their lives.
4. I shared how I've been reading in the New Testament- in Luke talking about the pure love that our Heavenly Father has for us.
"If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?"
As I have pondered this scripture, I thought about how many times we think we have been given a stone in our life instead of bread. But then I thought of LeGrand Silver- a man who used to live in our Ward when David was Bishop. One day LeGrand said to David that he was the luckiest man alive. When David asked why, LeGrand replied, "Because I was diagnosed with prostate cancer!" David said he didn't think that sounded too lucky! Then LeGrand shared how when they were doing a scan for the prostate cancer, they found that he had a huge aortic aneurysm- that could have ruptured and killed him at any moment. LeGrand said, "If I didn't have prostate cancer, I would have never known about the aneurysm!"
We could think that the Lord had given LeGrand a stone- but that stone actually turned out to be the blessing and saved his life. I asked the boys to think of what they thought were stones in their lives and how they could end up to be wonderful blessings.
After the lesson, then I had another lesson for them. I whipped out my Pie Face game and the whipping cream! They loved it! It's like Russian Roulette- you turn a dial and maybe you just get smacked in the face with whipping cream.
The moral to the story is we are ALL going to get smacked in the face in life. Be given what we think are stones or are kicked out of our comfort zone. But we each have the opportunity to pick ourselves up and keep moving. To not let those things be stumbling blocks, but stepping stones.
