The Laurel Class

I've mentioned my new calling as Laurel adviser.  From the schedule I've seen it appears that I'll usually teach three lessons a month.  The lesson manuals are recycled every three years so these girls have probably heard most of the lessons, which makes it difficult to come up with ways to make them interesting. The lesson yesterday was about Dependability and was supposed to begin  with a story about how a YW class had committed to help a widow with her yard but only the leader and one girl showed up. It was a blah story, so I changed it - told them it was a choose your own ending story, gave them the situation and had them finish the story themselves. It was hilarious. First version they came up with - all the girls got up two hours early, read their scriptures, had a nutritious breakfast, said a prayer and did a professional job on the woman's yard. In the other version, only one Beehive came, and her mom dropped her off so she had no way to go get more help, and she forgot to bring tools or gloves so she used her bare hands to do everything she could. Much better class participation.

At the conclusion of the lesson I borrowed the Parable of the Popcorn from here.  It made a great visual point and I attached  snack size bags of microwave popcorn to copies of the parable.  Here's the parable - you'll need to get your own popcorn.

THE PARABLE OF THE POPCORN

Behold at the time of harvest the ears of corn did bring forth kernels, which were dried and prepared for the popper's hand. And then it was that the popper did take the kernels, all of which did appear alike unto him and did apply the oil and the heat. And lo, it came to pass that when the heat was on, some did explode with promise and did magnify themselves an hundred fold, and some did burst forth with whiteness, which did both gladden the eye and satisfy the taste of the popper.
And likewise, some others did pop, but not too much. But lo, there were some that did just lie there and even though the popper's heat was alike unto all, they did bask in the warmth of the oil and kept everything they had for themselves. And so it came to pass that those which had given of themselves did bring joy and delight to many munchers, but those which kept of the warmth and did not burst forth were fit only to be cast out into the pail and were thought of with hardness and disgust.
And thus we see that in the beginning all appear alike, but when the heat is on, some come forth and give their all, while others fail to pop and verily become like unto chaff, to be discarded and forgotten.