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If we look at the Young Women's theme, line-by-line, we can
see that it's not all that different from the Relief Society
theme. The goals of the Young Women program are life-long pursuits
and the theme outlines a wonderful map for this life.
"We are daughters of a Heavenly Father who loves
us and we love him."
The constant essential to having direction and purpose in life
is knowing who we are and what's expected of us.
"The
phrase that echoes in my mind is, 'we are daughters of a Heavenly
Father who loves us and we love him,'" said Maren Allred
of Fraser Ward, Mesa North Stake Mesa, Arizona. "I know
that Heavenly Father loves me and has given me so many wonderful
blessings because of that great love. Knowing this helps me
remember my worth and my destiny as a woman."
The knowledge
that we are daughters of God with our own divine qualities and
destinies provides a foundation of self-awareness and worth
that can guide our actions and choices at any point in our growth.
Whether we're 13 or 35 or 72, we are still His daughters and
we still strive to walk the path that returns to Him.
"We will stand as witnesses of God at all times
and in all things and in all places…"
This sentence reminds us to stand our ground against peer pressure,
immorality, and all the temptations that face a teenager and
to show friends the Great Plan of Happiness by being truly happy.
But the need to be constantly aware of our relationship and
covenant with God never goes away. Even when our lives take
a turn for the "less-public" or "less-social",
every encounter should be considered a missionary opportunity.
If we are visit teaching a sister who is already a member of
the church, let our words and actions reinforce her testimony.
If we are frantically running errands, we can make every encounter
a kindly one (as Marvin J. Ashton used to say)-you never know
when the grocery cashier or the mailman are going to discover
you are LDS. And when they do, will they say, "I could
tell she was a follower of Jesus?" And what about the people
we live with--husbands, children, roommates, etc.? Do our daily
lives witness to them of our values and beliefs?
"We strive to live the Young Women Values…"
In Young Women, it's pretty easy to strive to live the values
because that's pretty much what the program is all about. For
the past several decades, there has been a structured program
of one kind of another to teach Young Women to set and reach
goals and to appreciate and develop their divine feminine nature.
In 1985, the Young Women Values as we know them today were introduced.
In case you don't know them by heart, here are the values with
their value statements.
Faith: I am a daughter of Heavenly Father,
who loves me. I have faith in His eternal plan, which centers
on Jesus Christ, my Savior.
Divine Nature: I have inherited divine
qualities, which I will strive to develop.
Individual Worth: I am of infinite worth
with my own divine mission, which I will strive to fulfill.
Knowledge: I will continually seek opportunities
for learning and growth.
Choice and Accountability: I will choose
good over evil and will accept responsibility for my decisions.
Good Works: I will help others and build
the kingdom through righteous service.
Integrity: I will have the moral courage
to make my actions consistent with my knowledge of right and
wrong.
Each of these values is based on an eternal principle that applies
to us throughout our lives. Understanding our Divine Nature
as women and the special place we hold in our Heavenly Father's
Plan as nurturers, teachers, sisters, wives, or mothers serves
to combat the barrage of "worldly" doctrine that devalues
and desecrates these roles.
Sister
Allred said although she doesn't really have a "favorite"
value, "Individual Worth has helped me to take courage
since advancing from the Young Women's program. I have learned
in my few years of being away from home, through school, and
especially after having gone through the temple, that understanding
our individual worth is one of the things Heavenly Father
most desires for us."
If you
do not know the Young Women values but would like to get familiar
with them, the Personal Progress program is a great place to
start. You can even ask your ward Young Women's president for
your own Personal Progress book and complete some of the experiences
for yourself. Adult leaders of the young women are encouraged
to participate in the program so they can understand it and
help the youth.
"The
Personal Progress program is quite simple and straightforward,
but leaves room to personalize each requirement, too,"
said Lorraine Blatter of the Bozeman 2nd Ward, Bozeman Montana
Stake. "It keeps you focused on the most important things
in life. I feel more and more as I get older that the values
in the program are part of my life and I am more focused on
the church and the Lord. I took them for granted when I was
younger, but that's where I received the foundations of my
testimony today."
The most
recent Personal Progress program is based on the seven values.
Young Women must complete 3 required "experiences"
for each value-these usually require the participant to first
study scriptures about the value and record her findings and
feelings in a journal, then practice applying the value in regular,
real-life settings. To earn her Young Women in Excellence Award,
the participant must then complete three more "optional"
experiences to deepen her understanding, and then plan and carry
out a 10-hour project that shows her understanding of the value.
Adult leaders can also receive their Young Women in Excellence
Award by completing the three required experiences in each value,
for a total of 21 experiences.
"I
have a testimony that Personal Progress is the best way to
teach and learn the values and principles of being a woman
and a daughter of God," said Sister Blatter. "These
girls may not always apply them walking the halls of their
high schools, but it will all hit home when they are kneeling
across the altar with husbands. This is when the light bulb
comes on."
"We
will be prepared to strengthen home and family..."
We don't have to look far as adult women for opportunities to
use our values and gospel knowledge to strengthen our homes
and families. If we are wives and/or mothers, we get to do it
everyday. If we are single, we are part of a family of origin;
we can serve as favorite auntie, supportive daughter, or sensitive
and generous sister. We can also strengthen other families as
we serve in our wards and nurture all children.
"Make and keep sacred covenants..."
Most of us of have made the essential covenant of baptism. Baptism
serves as the foundation for all other covenants and ordinances,
it is renewed each week as we partake of the sacrament. Although
this covenant is added upon as we grow in the gospel, we must
remember to keep the commitments we made at baptism throughout
our lives-to always remember our Savior and keep His commandments.
As we do this, we are blessed with the gift of the Holy Ghost
to guide our progress. Part of that progress is receiving other
ordinances and making more covenants in the temple. This part
of the Young Women's theme can remind Relief Society sisters
to keep all of our covenants-baptismal and temple.
"Receive the Ordinances of the Temple..."
It is the ultimate goal of every Young Women leader to see a
Young Woman arrive at the temple worthy and ready to continue
her eternal progress by being endowed and later sealed to a
worthy bearer of the priesthood. There is a measure of relief
for leaders and parents alike when a young woman receives the
ordinances of the temple. Why is this so?
First, the Young woman has displayed her understanding of the
values and her moral courage in being worthy to attend the temple.
Secondly, we have testimonies that the endowment includes "power
from on high." We know that as this woman participates
in the ordinances of the temple and makes a deeper commitment
to God, she will be blessed with health, safety, wisdom, and
guidance beyond measure as she fulfills her mission on earth.
This precious daughter has taken her salvation and exaltation
seriously, and after she's endowed and sealed, we breathe a
sigh of relief- she's really in the Lord's hands now.
The Lord feels the same way about us as adult women as we receive
and renew our temple covenants.
"It's
such a great feeling of comfort to know that you have the
protection of the gospel and your covenants, "said Sister
Blatter. " If you arm yourself with everything in the
[Young Women's] program and receive the ordinances of the
temple, you will be stronger than any army."
This part
of the theme can serve as a reminder to us of the power and
protection we have as we keep our temple covenants. It can also
remind us to remain worthy and renew those covenants, and to
live them even from moment to moment.
"And enjoy the blessings of exaltation."
The path we enter when we are baptized and follow throughout
Young Women and Relief Society, eventually leads to exaltation.
The Young Women theme appropriately ends with this, the greatest
of all mission statements.
"Isn't
it great that we have such a glorious knowledge?" exclaimed
Sister Allred. "I am so glad I learned this in my youth
and that it continues with me through my everyday life."
If we indeed
"strive to live the Young Women values," we will inevitably
enjoy the blessings of exaltation one day. It's nice to be reminded
that our daily "baby steps"-whether we be Young Women
setting personal progress goals, single women pursuing excellence
in our education, careers, and service, or mothers struggling
to raise righteous families-in the end, lead to the same glorious
destination.
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General
Relief Society Declaration
We are beloved spirit daughters of God,
and our lives have meaning, purpose, and direction. As a worldwide
sisterhood, we are united in our devotion to Jesus Christ,
our Savior and Exemplar. We are women of faith, virtue, vision,
and charity who:
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Increase our testimonies of Jesus Christ through prayer
and scripture study.
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Seek
spiritual strength by following the promptings of the Holy
Ghost.
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Dedicate
ourselves to strengthening marriages, families, and homes.
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Find
nobility in motherhood and joy in womanhood.
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Delight
in service and good works.
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Love
life and learning.
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Stand
for truth and righteousness.
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Sustain
the priesthood as the authority of God on earth.
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Rejoice
in the blessings of the temple, understand our divine destiny,
and strive for exaltation.
From
the Introduction to the Young Women Personal Progress Book:
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 the noble calling 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.
Through personal prayer, scripture study, obedience to the commandments,
and service to others, you can develop these gifts.
Use your
influence to lift and bless your family, other young women,
and the young men with whom you associate. Honor womanhood,
support the priesthood, and treasure faithful motherhood and
fatherhood.
As you participate
in Personal Progress, you join with thousands of other young
women who are striving to come unto Christ and "stand as
witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all
places" (Mosiah 18:9). Counsel with your parents, and prayerfully
choose goals that will help you cultivate feminine virtues,
grow spiritually, and reach your divine potential. Take advantage
of your time in Young Women by preparing to receive the sacred
ordinances of the temple, to be a faithful wife and mother,
and to strengthen the home and family.
The First
Presidency
M.
Russell Ballard, "Are We Keeping Pace?" Ensign, Nov.
1998:
"You
sisters can help build personal testimony in the lives of every
woman, young woman, and child in the ward. How grateful we are
for your strength. Sisters, talk together in your councils about
how to love, support, and teach each other the beautiful blessings
and promises of the gospel. How wonderful it would be if every
woman in the world understood her true destiny as expressed
in the Young Women theme. You know the words: "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, and Integrity."
Learning of and acting upon these values will save and bless
both young and older women."
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