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” 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.
Every Sunday the
Young Women stand together as symbols of truth and righteousness and repeat the
Young Women theme. Each Sunday we say
and listen to these words, as a reminder of our value to our Father in Heaven and
the sacred nature by which we are here.
Brother
Holmes asked me to speak on how the Young Women’s theme could apply to all of
us as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The easiest way to do this is look at each
part of the theme.
The first
part of the theme says “We are Daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves us
and we love Him.” In one of the first
pages of the Personal Progress handbook, the First Presidency wrote a message
for the Young Women of the church. In
part, it reads, “You are a beloved daughter of
Heavenly Father, prepared to come to the earth at this particular time for a
sacred and glorious purpose. You have a noble responsibility to use your
strength and influence for good. Your loving Heavenly Father has blessed you
with talents and abilities that will help you fulfill your divine
mission.” Can this not be said of every
one of us?
We have each
been sent to earth to fill a divine mission.
Our missions vary as much as we do.
Sister Majorie Pay Hinckley said, “Think about your particular
assignment at this time in your life. It may be to get an education, it may be
to rear children, it may be to be a grandparent, it may be to care for an
relieve the suffering of someone you love, it may be to do a job in the most
excellent way possible, it may be to support someone who has a difficult
assignment of their own. Our assignments are varied and they change from time
to time. Don't take them lightly. Give them your full heart and energy. Do them
with enthusiasm.”
Our Father in Heaven did not give us our missions
lightly. I am certain that before we
accepted the opportunity to come to Earth, He took a moment with each of
us. I know that He explained that it
wouldn’t be an easy road. I know He
explained that there would be many trials and tribulations along the way, but
that there would also be great joys. I
know He told me how much He loves me and that if I didn’t think I could do it,
He would understand. And He made sure
that I understood He would stand beside me and that the armies of Heaven would
surround me and that I would not have to take one step of the journey alone.
The next part of the Young Women’s theme comes from Mosiah
18:9. “We will stand as witnesses of God
at all times and in all things, and in all places as we strive to live the
Young Women values.”
The values by which we live are Faith, Divine Nature,
Individual Worth, Knowledge, Choice and Accountability, Good Works, Integrity
and Virtue.
Why are these 8 things the values that Young Women’s is based
on? They are cornerstones.
In Alma 32:32 we read, “Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things;
therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are
true.” Faith is the building block that brings
us to church each Sunday, and brings us to our knees in times of great trial
and great joy.
“Be partakers of the divine nature. … Giving all diligence, add to your
faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to
temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly
kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity” (2 Peter 1:4–7).
It is not necessary to be a Young Woman to recognize your Divine
Worth. It is only necessary to recognize
that you are a Child of God.
D&C 18:10 says, “Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight
of God.” Our Father in Heaven knows who
we are. There can be no question, that
to Him we are HIS child, not another in a sea of faces. Anyone who has ever received a blessing can
attest to the fact that He is aware of our individual needs. He is mindful of WHO WE ARE.
D&C 88:118 says, “Seek learning, even by study and also by
faith.” We may not all be destined for
continuing education, but we are not to strive only for secular knowledge. We are here to learn of Him, and how we can
be more like Him through all that we do.
Our Savior gave us the example and teachings necessary; we have simply
to follow and learn from His example.
We have been counseled in Joshua 24:15 to “Choose you this day whom ye
will serve;…but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” At any age, one of the most difficult lessons
we have to learn is consequence. We seem
to think that we can rationalize our way out of anything and everything. But with each choice, there will always be a
consequence. Our choices can bring great
sorrow or great joy.
Good works is a necessary key to living the gospel 3 Nephi 12:16 says, “Therefore let your light
so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your
Father who is in Heaven.” One of my
favorite scripture mastery verses is from James 2:26. “For as the body without the spirit is dead,
so faith without works is dead also.”
Faith is a verb, it requires action, and how better to exemplify our
Savior’s example than through service to others.
Job 27:5 reads, “Till I die I will not remove mine integrity from
me.” Joseph B. Wirthlin gave his
definition of integrity in a conference talk from April of 1990, “To me,
integrity means always doing what is right and good, regardless of the
immediate consequences. It means being
righteous from the very depth of our soul, not only in our actions, but, more
importantly, in our thoughts and in our hearts.
Personal integrity implies such trustworthiness and incorruptibility
that we are incapable of being false to a trust or covenant.” I would like to add that integrity means
standing for what is right, even if it means standing alone.
The final value is virtue. Young
Women’s General President, Elaine S. Dalton said, “Virtue is a pattern of
thought and behavior based on high moral standards”, which was taken from
Preach my Gospel, but she went on to say, “It encompasses chastity and moral
purity. Virtue begins in the heart and
in the mind. It is nurtured in the
home. It is the accumulation of
thousands of small decisions and actions.”
Faith, Divine Nature, Individual Worth, Knowledge, Choice and
Accountability, Good Works, Integrity and Virtue are not simply values for
Young Women. They are meant for each of
us, as a guide for each day and encouragement to “Hold to the Rod”.
The final section of the Young
Women’s theme says, “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.”
Living the values outlined in the Personal Progress
program prepares us, each of us. Age is irrelevant;
we are being prepared for each new breath, each new experience and each new
lesson.
I love that the theme specifies we are being
prepared to strengthen home and family.
The family is under attack. Satan
goes to great lengths to lessen the importance of a family in today’s
world. Part of the “Family: A Proclamation
to the World reads, “…The disintegration of the family will bring upon
individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and
modern prophets.” However, through
living the values of the Gospel we are able to create armor against the biases
of the world and protect that which we and our Father in Heaven hold dear.
By learning who we are to our Father in Heaven, and
recognizing our sacred role as His children we become worthy to enter the
temple and make the covenants that will help us return to Him.
Our mandate from Our Father is simple, “Wherefore,
ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect
brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting
upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father:
Ye shall have eternal life.” (2 Nephi 31:20)
And it will be joyous, “And for this cause ye shall
have fullness of joy; and ye shall sit down in the kingdom of my Father, yea,
your joy shall be full, even as the Father hath given me fullness of joy; and
ye shall be even as I am, and I am even as the Father…” (3 Nephi 28:10)
[There was some filler here....ad libbing, crying, miscellaneous rambling....]
I would like to close by urging you to develop your relationship with Heavenly Father. Get to know Him as He knows you.
And to close, I would like to share the theme one more time, with a single word change.
We are CHILDREN 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” 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.
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