This Easter morning, I had some time to prepare for my home teaching lesson while Annie slept and Shelly was getting ready. Ellie and I pulled out the special March issue of the Ensign, which focuses entired on Jesus Christ. We began thumbing through it, as looking at pictures of Jesus is one of Ellie's favorite things to do.

On the second page of the First Presidency message, there is a painting of Jesus casting away Satan during the Temptations. I was focusing on this page because that's the article I was reading, and Ellie looked closely at the picture too. We began discussing it.

She pointed at Satan and I told her his name. I said, "This is Satan, and he's bad. This is Jesus, and he's good." I think this is the first time we've ever talked to Ellie about Satan. We talked about how Jesus wants us to be good. He wants us to say our prayers and go to church and share our toys. I asked Ellie if she wanted to be good or bad. "Good," she said. Are you going to follow Jesus or Satan? "Jesus," she said, luckily.

Explaining doctrine to a two-year-old is a tricky proposition. I clearly didn't want to delve into the nuances of mercy robbing justice in my attempt to give her an impromptu Easter lesson, but I wanted her to get something out of it. As I did so, I noticed that the things that a two-year-old can understand are some of the most important parts of the gospel. Because she is just beginning to develop a sense of right and wrong, I decided to focus on Jesus versus Satan; good versus bad; happy versus sad.

I explained that Satan was not only bad; he is sad because he is bad. Jesus is happy because he is good. When we are good, we are happy. I asked Ellie if she was happy or sad. "Happy," she said. I told her she could be happy if she would follow Jesus. I told her that Jesus was saying, "Go away, Satan," and we can tell Satan to go away too.

"Satan sad," she said. "Yes," I replied, "that's because he is bad. He doesn't go to church or share toys. So he's sad."

Earlier in the morning, Ellie had stuck to her tummy a number of little stickers from our Easter egg dyeing kit. When she learned that Satan was sad, she peeled one off herself and stuck it on Satan.

"There ya go, Satan," she said sweetly.

My daughter tried to cheer up the Devil with a sticker of a football.

I explained once again that Satan was still sad because he was still bad. So she gave him another sticker. "There ya go, Satan."


It was a very precious experience. I was teaching my little girl about my testimony of Jesus Christ, encouraging her to be nice to others and to follow him, and in her effort to do so, she noticed that Satan was sad, so she did what she could to be nice to him. I hope I can always remember not only what I taught Ellie this morning, but also what she taught me.