Media and Keeping a Clean Mind

Today in Sharing Time the lesson is "Reading, Watching, & Listening to wholesome things keeps my mind clean."
This time my lesson will be the same for Jr. & Sr. Primary.

? What are some things in our society today that may have a bad influence on our thoughts & speech?
(write answers on board)
-TV shows/ movies
-magazines/ books
-video/computer games
-friends
-internet
-school
*For visual experiment have a clear glass of water and for each bad example add a drop of food coloring.
  Explain: That our minds become clouded like the water when we let vulgar & impure thoughts & language into our minds.
?What should we do when an unclean thought enters our minds?
-Dismiss it immediately!
*Visual Experiment: Wrap a volunteers hand once with string. Have him try to break the string by pulling his hands apart. Explain: That the string represents a bad thought. Now wrap the string around several times to where you think he can't break it. Have him try to free himself again. Explain: That the sooner we can free ourselves of unclean thoughts the better. When there is just one bad thought it is easy to get away, but as we let ourselves become immersed with bad media it is harder to get away. We want our minds to be clean and sharp. We don't want to keep ourselves clouded like the glass of water. Get out as soon as you can

 ? How Can we keep our thoughts clean so that the Lord's spirit can dwell in us?
-We have cleaning agents to help us stay pure.
(write answers on strips of paper and tape under random seats. After each reading drop a dab of "Mind & Language Cleaner"[bleach] in the cloudy water. Eventually the water will be clear again)

Answers:
Sacred Music: Choose a favorite church song and memorize the words. Use this hymn as your emergency channel. Use this as the place for your thoughts to go. It will change the whole mood of your mind. Because it is clean and uplifting and reverent, the bad thoughts will leave.
Earnest Prayer: Through the exercise of self-control and by engaging in earnest prayer, it is possible to learn to govern one's speech
Savior's Example: A person who is striving to pattern his or her life after that of the Savior will be pure in thought and action. His or her speech will then be clean, dignified, and worshipful
Good Company: Choose your company so you will not be tempted. Good choices and self-control are often influenced by those whom we associate.
Mental Control:Visualize your mind as a big televisions screen or theater stage. When an evil thought enters, mentally change channels or change the scene or set, and think of something uplifting.
Memorized Scripture: Pick a favorite scripture that has special meaning to you and memorize it. When the temptation to think evil enters your mind, quote the scripture over and over until the thought leaves.
Avoid Evil: Avoid pictures, books, magazines, movies, or anything else that would bring evil thoughts into your mind.

If time permits You can move on to my next Object Lesson (have a cupcake on display)

Many of us try to rationalize bad media. A lot of times we say, "Oh there is just ONE bad scene in this movie I'll be ok to watch it. There is only ONE curse word, ONE nudity scene, ONE fight scene, etc" How many of us do this?
One parent had a solution to this problem. After the kids begged and tried to rationalize their decisions the next day the Dad cooked a lovely batch of cupcakes. He went on and on talking about how good these cupcakes were. The kids were so excited and couldn't wait to eat them. Right before the kids took a bite he made them stop. He proceeded to tell them there was just ONE thing that was bad in it. What you might ask? DOG POOP! The kids were disgusted and threw the cupcakes down. The Dad was confused. He thought it was just ONE thing. All the rest of the cupcake was good. Why couldn't the kids look past just this ONE bad thing.
I thought this was a wonderful comparison. Probably one the kids will never forget, because it is so dramatic. ONE bad thing really can ruin something no matter how good it is.

Let us stay strong and keep ourselves away from bad media & company. We need to remember our Cleaning Agents to help us keep our minds clean and pure.
Read Scripture: Proverbs 23:7 "for as he thinketh in his heart, so is he."