Why I love the Young Women Theme

WE ARE DAUGHTERS of our Heavenly Father, who loves us and we love Him.

WE WILL "STAND as witnesses of God at all times and in all things and in all places" (Mosiah 18:9) as we strive to live the Young Women values, which are:

FAITH

DIVINE NATURE

INDIVIDUAL WORTH

KNOWLEDGE

CHOICE AND ACCOUNTABILITY

GOOD WORKS

INTEGRITY

and

VIRTUE

WE BELIEVE as we come to accept and act upon these values, WE WILL BE

PREPARED

to strengthen home and family,

make and keep sacred covenants,

receive the ordinances of the temple

and enjoy the blessings of exaltation.

In my life- how many times have I stood and recited this theme?

Many

Yet as I study it now and think on it....

" as we come to accept"...

I love that our leaders understand ... we need to grow into this.

I didn't accept some of these values when I was a beehive.

I didn't fully understand their value, importance, their weight- in my life

The role they would play in my life.....

and then , "as we come to accept and ACT upon these values"

It's not just accepting them as important values or character traits

it is ACTING upon them

working on them

developing them

weaving them into the fabric of my being

the fiber of my being

As I work on my Personal Progress- I wonder why it was such a chore when I was a young woman?

I love this program!

It is so-- so-- everything I love!

Self Improvement

Challenging one- self to grow and be better.

It's like a booster shot of self worth

Sometimes in life we see a measuring stick

a standard people expect us to live up to

and we use it to beat ourselves

to put ourselves down at all the places we are lacking

how we are not measuring up

how we are not good enough.

Do you ever do that?

I do.

Then one day I watched my young kids measuring themselves.

They put their back against the wall and were marking the spot on the wall where their head hit the wall...

My youngest was so excited.

He knew he didn't measure as high as his older brothers

but he was excited to see how tall he was

he stood straight.. even raised to the tip toe...

to try and close the gap between his actual height and the mark of his older brother

and

at

that

moment

I had a realization.

a lesson from my child

When I see a standard

When I am trying to be like Jesus

I shouldn't beat myself up for not measuring up

I should be excited about the growth I have made

the progress I have made

and then I should be excited and anxious to improve

stretch to my full potential

to reach a little higher

That is all that is really asked of us.

Do our Best

and endure (keep doing our best) until the end.