Cookie plans and Heavenly Father's plan for me ....by Mason

I had no excuse this week of not knowing about the talk til Saturday night....

I've known about it since last Sunday when he promptly gave me "I have been chosen to give a talk next week" paper right after primary.

I put it in the book I was reading to remind me to work on it every day. I didn't know the theme for the month so I thought every day.... "I need to call someone in the primary presidency to get the theme" The secretary's phone number was right on the paper.

I really had no excuse to wait til Friday or saturday to call her. ....but that's what I did.

Saturday afternoon, Mason and I sat down and discussed his talk. The theme was "Heavenly Father has a plan for me" He was not very helpful. He kept shrugging his shoulders and saying "I don't know... I don't know" So I got on the internet and found the primary program outline on LDS.Org.

I am so glad I have had experience serving in primary so I know how it all works and know how to support my kids. It has been a great blessing to me that I was called to be a counselor in primary the very year Carly turned 3 and entered primary. I have served almost exclusively in primary since that time. Other than 2 years in R.S callings I've been activity day leader, nursery leader twice and in 3 different primary presidencies. I really do love primary.

Anyway... I was talking about Mason, not me.

Something in the outline got me thinking about equating other kinds of plans with Heavenly Father's plan. The only kind of plan I could think of that Mason would relate to was a recipe. That got the ball rolling and from that point on, he was actively involved in the discussion and helped write his talk. I try really hard to help them write their own talks. I think it's easier to memorize and a better experience for them if they are involved and the talk is in their words.

This is not to say I don't do a lot of directing and some fine tuning. There's one line in his talk that he lifted right out of a primary song. See if you can find it.

I learned something interesting through this discussion and exercise of writing a talk. Mason does not understand as much as I thought he did. He is the youngest. It is easy to assume I have given him the same instruction I've given the others but somehow, I haven't.

He said to me as we talked, "well, it's kind of pointless I think". "what?" I asked. "Well, Heavenly Father sends us to earth to get a body so we get one and then we die and then our body is gone. That's kind of pointless"

I was really surprised he didn't understand about the resurrection. We talk about it every Easter when we talk about Jesus Christ's atonement, death and resurrection. I realized that I probably use wording designed for the older kids who have the foundation of understanding. So he's kind of lost trying to grasp a concept he doesn't have the foundation to grasp. I had a good talk with him trying to explain it but don't know for sure if he really understands. I know it won't ever be about one conversation but hopefully with this new awareness I'll try to help him understand better and be able to see other holes I've missed in his gospel learning.

Of course after we wrote the talk and practiced it several times....

we had to make cookies to really bring the principle home..

There are 2 parts to the video because he was going along really great and then lost his place and got frazzled. He motioned for me to turn the camera off. After he regrouped, I had him record the end because I knew it would be hard to get him to do the whole thing again because it was almost time to go to church and I was afraid we might forget after church. I was right...

We did however miss one line in the regrouping. he was supposed to say this but only said the first half...

I have a great plan for making oatmeal chocolate chip cookies but if I don’t follow it, they won’t turn out right. Heavenly Father has a great plan for me but if I don’t follow it I won’t receive his blessings.

He did well as he gave his talk in primary. I was able to sit in the back and watch him for the first time. Usually he has required me to stand next to him. It's both exciting and a little sad to be able to watch him do new things and to see that he is not as needful of me. With that last one, it's hard to not be needed.

So... here is Mason's primary talks. In 2 parts.( left side first)