Vanilla Vs. Syrup

Everybody likes a good batch of chocolate chip cookies, it's just a fact.

My brother and I had a craving for them and decided to make a batch. Since my parents were out on their date night we decided to go for it with no supervision.

It went really well! We were working together, having a blast, and then we got to an ingredient: Vanilla.

We didn't have any vanilla.

Stumped we thought about what we could do. Neither of us could drive, and instead of doing the sensible thing and asking the neighbors for some, we substituted it with another ingredient...

Syrup.

They looked the same right? They both tasted pretty darn good.

The dough got EVERYWHERE.

Because of the substituted ingredient the dough was ridiculously sticky.

My parents soon came home and were flabbergasted at what we had done. Who in their right mind would substitute syrup for vanilla????

After scraping the dough off of the counters my mom kindly shared with me that syrup does not substitute for vanilla.

I look back at this experience and find a spiritual parallel.

To my young mind, who was very new at cooking, Syrup and Vanilla looked the same, so it should be okay right?

My mom knew beyond the surface and beyond the looks of the ingredients and knew that it wouldn't work.

As spiritual children we are constantly learning and realizing the Adversaries traps. However some of his attempts are taught by prophets today, so we don't have to learn the hard way.

We are spiritual children who need guidance from our parents. The more we study the words of the modern day prophets and the prophets in the scriptures, the more we'll know to avoid those follies of Satan.

Study the words of your Heavenly Father that he shares through his prophets.

Pray to know that we have a prophet today in whom we are continually given guidance.

Know the difference between Vanilla and Syrup, so when the time comes, you can enjoy some delicious chocolate chip cookies and avoid the scraping of dough off the counters.

I close in the name of Jesus Christ, who makes it possible to escape any dough-scraping experience, Amen.