We just returned from taking the 4th Level girls on their overnighter and hike and the other leader with me had a wonderful devotional idea. After we settled down for the night in our tents, she shared how it has been hard for her, at times, to stand for righteousness because others would make fun of her or say she was a goodie goodie. This happened even when she was on her mission when her companion wasn't as focused as she should have been.

She then shared the story about crabs, when they are all in a bucket and one tries to climb out, the others grab him and pull him back down with them.   Next, she opened her scriptures to share how Laman and Lemuel would try to pull Nephi down, even beating him up. After expanding on this, she tied it to the girls today, and how truthful words can be hard to listen to, as Laman and Lemuel thought, and expanded in this direction.

She challenged the girls to not be like the crabs and pull others down, but to lift others, even buoying them up, like a life saver. To lift and be a life saver to the girls younger than them, who look to them as an example. Then to lift and be a life saver to those girls older than them, who will be over them at camp, and are setting a good example for them to follow.  Sometimes someone will say truthful things that might be hard for us to listen to, like it was for Laman and Lemuel, but these are things that we really need to be doing.

Then, you guessed it, she passed out large individually wrapped life savers to the girls. The next day as we hiked, she watched for the girls "buoying" each other up and would quietly pass out another lifesaver.

Graphics by: ShanaLeah's