Here's what was in their packet this year:
Sunday: At girls camp, we passed around scrapbook paper and had each girl and leader write a brief message expressing love and sharing some of the girls' talents and gifts. They received this with the lyrics to the song "Where You Stand" by Jenny Phillips on it. They also received a letter from their parents expressing love and describing some of their talents and gifts.
Monday: They received a letter from "Heavenly Father". Here's what the letter said:
"Dear Daughter,
I remember well the day you left my side, wandered through the veil, and ventured forth to fulfill your earthly mission. I had a tear in my eye as I clothed your spirit in a cloak of love and sent you off to school. Be assured that my thoughts are with you now, as always.
I love you with all my heart. I know your life; the good, the bad, your grief, your disappointments, your unrewarded efforts, your frustrations. But always remember: all that I have is yours if you will only come home again.
Daughter, realize that in you I have placed a bit of Heaven. No one was exempt. I love all of my children. You have some blessed gift, some talent, some little part of me in you. Search for it, develop it, use it, and most importantly, share it with others. If you really love me, then help others find themselves and lead them to me. Show your love by serving others.
Repent of your failings and humble yourself. Make yourself ever teachable and continually strive to improve. I gave you weaknesses to help you be humble. Don't condemn me for that. I did it because I love you. Be full of hope. Don't let discouragement engulf you. I'll come if you need me.
Daughter, cease your idle contentions. Be a peacemaker, for it breaks my heart to see so many of my children fighting. If they could only see what I have hoped, planned, and desire for them. My heart breaks as I watch them. But you, faithful daughter, are my hope. It is through you that my work must proceed. You haven't much time and th ere is so much work to be done. I beg you to get started. Accomplish the mission I gave to you before you left me. I'll help you. I'll never be too busy or too far away to come to you. I'm nearer to you always than you might suspect. I have so much I would like to tell you, but I can't here.
Come to me often in prayer. I love to talk to you, my beloved daughter. Be diligent in my work and my kingdom shall be yours. I'd love to take you in my arms, but I too, must wait patiently--that time will come. Until then I leave you my peace, my blessing, my love, and never forget that I am nearby whenever you need me.
I love you and miss you so very much and, oh, how I am looking forward to your return to me.
All my love,
Your Heavenly Father"
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
 |
| Photo credit to my dear friend Natalie who gave me permission to use her photo.
Two Wolves
There is a well known parable of two wolves. A grandfather explained to his young grandson that there are two wolves inside us. One of them is a good wolf that represents love, kindness, bravery and other positive qualities. The other is a bad wolf that represents things like greed, hatred, and fear. These wolves are always at war. The grandson listened and then asked, “Which one wins?” The grandfather replied, “Whichever one you feed.”
In her book You Are More than Enough, You are Magnificent, Ganel-Lyn Condie redefines these two wolves. The good wolf represents self-worth and perceived value. The good wolf helps you know that you are a daughter of God and that you have a divine nature and individual worth. The good wolf embraces her worth and knows that she brought her value with her. The bad wolf seeks to make you miserable. It tells you that your value depends on your accomplishments, beauty or wealth. It tells you that you aren’t good enough and never will be.
The good wolf isn’t perfect but she doesn’t beat herself up when she fails or falls. She remembers to “let virtue garnish [her] thoughts unceasingly” (D & C 121: 45) and that includes the way she thinks about herself. The good wolf remembers that she is a beautiful work in progress.
You have the good wolf and bad wolf inside you. Sister Condie writes, “The good wolf is crying out to be fed. Feed her with truth. As the scriptures instruct, ‘Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God.’ Did you hear that? The worth of a soul is great. Not mediocre, not kind of good, but great. God isn’t just putting up with you. He cherishes you. I know it doesn’t always feel that way....you are being attacked by the bad wolf—so even when you are reminded of your worth, you quickly forget.”
Sister Condie writes, “The time has come to ask your toxic guest to leave. From today forward, choose to feed the good wolf. Listen to the voice in your head that allows for bad days and repentance; make room for mistakes and makeups.”
President Hinckley said, “There is...in our society a sad tendency among many of us to belittle ourselves. Other persons may appear to us to be sure of themselves, but the fact is that most of us have some feelings of inferiority. The important thing is not to talk to yourself about it.... The important thing is to make the best of all that we have. Don’t waste your time feeling sorry for yourself. Don’t belittle yourself. Never forget that you are a child of God. You have a divine birthright. Something of the very nature of God is within you. The Psalmist sang, “I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.” (Ps. 82:6.)
Precious young women (AND RELIEF SOCIETY SISTERS!!!!), please begin today to listen to and feed the good wolf and do all you can to banish the bad wolf. You are beloved daughters of God. You make mistakes, but you are NOT a mistake. Sheri Dew said, “None of us come to this earth to gain our worth; We brought it with us.”
If you are in the habit of thinking negatively about yourself, it will take effort to change that habit. But that IS my challenge to you. Begin today to feed only the good wolf. Recognize and REMEMBER your worth as a child of God. You are precious to Him and no one else on Earth can fulfill the role and work that He sent you here to perform."
|
The young women were given a tube of chapstick with a cute poem about choosing carefully the words we speak. Then the second note says, "Beautiful young women, As daughters of God you have so many beautiful qualities within you. You have gifts, talents, and characteristics that were given to you by our Father in Heaven himself. Part of our earthly mission is to find those qualities within ourselves and then develop and share them. We must also help others recognize that good within them as well. As daughters of God, you have so much power to lift others and help them know who they truly are. I invite you to take these two yellow cards and on one, write down all of your OWN talents, gifts, and the beauty within you. On the other, do the same, but about someone else. I invite you to then give that card to the person you wrote about. I know that as you do, you will help that person remember who they truly are. You will help them find a part of themselves and know how much they are loved by you and by our Heavenly Father."
Friday:
Beauty Bag:
Never forget there is "divinity in your very makeup."
Bandaid: Cover and heal the hurts of life with forgiveness
Cotton Ball: Show others gentleness and compassion
Comb: out the snarls of criticism
Rubber band: Be flexible and understanding, turning to the scriptures for guidance.
Q Tip: The tip of your beauty is charity.
Soap: Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, our sins can be washed away if we repent. Staying clean before the Lord is a wonderful feeling.
Emery Board: Although life may seem rough at times, our trials will shape our lives.
Wet wipes: Wipe off any bad habits.
"You are creatures of divinity; you are daughters of the Almighty. Limitless in your potential. Magnificent is your future. Never forget that you came to Earth as a child of the divine Father, with something of divinity in your very makeup." --President Gordon B. Hinckley
Saturday:
The first photo says, "The devil whispered in my ear 'You're not strong enough to withstand the storm.' Today I whispered in the devil's dear, 'I am a child of God, a woman of faith, a warrior of Christ, I AM THE STORM!"
The second photo says, "A man traveling through the country came to a large city, very rich and splendid; he looked at it and said to his guide, "This must be a very righteous people, for I can only see but one little devil in this great city." The guide replied, 'You do not understand, sir. This city is so perfectly given up to wickedness...that it requires but one devil to keep them all in subjection.'
Traveling on a little further, he came to a rugged path and saw an old man trying to get up the hill side, surrounded by seven great, big, coarse-looking devils. 'Why,' said the traveler, 'this must be a tremendously wicked old man! See how many devils there are around him!' 'This,' replied the guide, 'is the only righteous man in the country; and there are seven of the biggest devils trying to turn him out of his path, and they all cannot do it.'"
The third photo says, "Remember your worth. You are a strong, independent young woman. As you continue to live righteously, it may seem at times like you are having a harder life than others. Remember the more righteous you are, the more "devils" Satan sends to you because it becomes harder to tempt you. Also remember that you have support from leaders, family, freinds, and most importantly, Christ and your Heavenly Father. Christ allows the "devils" to challenge you and help you grow closer to Him. We cannot learn without trials. As you resist Satan and his "devils" you become more Christ-like. Remember, you have POWER over these devils. You CAN vanquish them and go on to do great things. I love you all!!
Sunday: They received this reminder:
One of the other things I did this year was send a link to a couple of songs about the YW's worth each day. I encouraged them to listen and ponder their worth and pray for the spirit to witness to their spirit that they are a daughter of God. I sent the following songs: Glorious by David Archuleta, Daughter of a King by Jenny Phillips, Strong by McKenna Hixson, Hear it From You, He Showed Me How by David Archuleta, You Say by Lauren Daigle, Beautiful for Me by Mercy River, My Story by Kaity Whitcomb, He Knows Me Better by Jenessa Buttars, Child of Light by Mindy Gledhill, What Heaven Sees in You by Mindy Gledhill, and I Am His Daughter by Nicole Sheahan. I also shared a couple of videos: God's Greatest Creation and Our True Identity.
On Saturday evening, we had a barbecue at my house. It was Labor Day weekend, so some of the young women and their families weren't able to make it. But we had a wonderful evening with those who came. We ate good food and visited. Then we sat in a circle and I shared a few things with the young women. Part of what I shared with the young women came from a text I received from one of our YW who graduated and just moved into the dorms at BYU this week. We invited her to participate with us in worth week one last time. She sent me a text with a poem.
She saw this poem at BYU on Friday and thought it went so well with worth week that she hoped I would share it. She shared how much she loves this poem and that it paints such a beautiful picture of our Heavenly Parents' love for us and for each other. She said she realized she didn't know much about our Heavenly Mother or about their love for one another. She said that sometimes we struggle with relationships or with loving others, but if we could follow their example and not be quick to judge, we can learn to see others through God's eyes and feel pure love and joy. She wrote, "I know we can be successful in surrounding ourselves with love because we come from love. Notice that the silver words are: heavenly, brilliant and you. In my opinion, that emphasis is pointing out that we ARE heavenly brilliance."
I shared with the young women that on Friday I got in the car and the radio was on. A song was on and I can't even remember the exact lyrics but something like "I hate you" or you're stupid or something. It was so jarring after listening to such uplifting music all week and feeling the spirit testify to me that I am loved and valued. I only heard about two lines and immediately shut it off. I cautioned them to be careful what they watch, listen to, and read...to fill their minds with things that uplift. I also shared an experience I had several months ago. I was praying for them...as I do every day. And in my prayer I referred to them as "my" young women, as I often do, because I love them dearly. But that day I received a bit of a gentle rebuke...I was told that they are not MY young women, but they are His...and as much as I love them and want them to find joy and peace, He wants that SO much more. I was taught that His desires for them and His love for them and His knowledge of them is so much greater than mine. Of course, I knew that. But ever since I either pray for His daughters or if I speak of them as mine, I put quotation marks around "my" young women. They are and will always be His. He is ever mindful of them. I gave them the opportunity to share their experiences. I asked them to especially consider what they learned this week about their Father and Savior or about themselves...and how will that impact their future choices/behavior? Many of them shared their experiences and some of the parents did as well. It was a wonderful evening. I love these precious daughters of God so very much!
No comments:
Post a Comment