This weekend is a little bit different from most weekends. Most weekends I spend Saturday however I want and then on Sunday I go to my local church in Gateshead for 3 hours of church. After that I either go to my parents' or my parent-in-laws' house for a scrummy Sunday dinner.
This weekend is General Conference. There is no 3 hours of church at Gateshead. Instead, I have the opportunity to listen to 8 hours worth of talks (broken up into four 2 hour chunks over Saturday and Sunday) from a prophet of God and inspired leaders.
I love church. I couldn't imagine doing anything better with my time this weekend.
I hope you all have a fantastic weekend whatever you're doing!
I love this recent talk by President Dieter F Uchtdorf about five things to 'forget not'. It reminds us all about keeping life in perspective and how to be happy now.
(This talk is taken from lds.org with the full version available here)
“No matter how dark your days may seem, no matter how insignificant you may feel, no matter how overshadowed you think you may be, your Heavenly Father has not forgotten you. In fact, He loves you, with an infinite love.”
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, gave this loving reminder during the General Relief Society Meeting on September 24, 2011.
Using the forget-me-not flower as a metaphor for his remarks, President Uchtdorf noted that although the flower is small in size, and easily unnoticed among larger flowers, it is still beautiful and vibrant.
President Uchtdorf tied the five petals of the forget-me-not flower to five things women should not forget.
President Uchtdorf reminded women that everyone has strengths and weaknesses—that no one is perfect, even those who may seem so.
“God wants to help us eventually turn all of our weaknesses into strengths, but He knows that this is a long-term goal,” President Uchtdorf said. “It is OK that you are not quite there yet. Keep working on it but stop punishing yourself. “
“Dear sisters, many of you are endlessly compassionate and patient with the weaknesses of others,” he added. “Please remember also to be compassionate and patient with yourself.”
Forget not the difference between a good sacrifice and a foolish sacrifice:
President Uchtdorf defined an acceptable sacrifice as giving up “something good for something of far greater worth.”
“Dedicating some of our time to studying the scriptures or preparing to teach a lesson is a good sacrifice. Spending many hours stitching the title of the lesson into homemade potholders for each member of your class may not be.”
President Uchtdorf noted that every situation is different, and suggested asking, “Am I committing my time and energies to the things that matter most?” in order to distinguish between good and foolish sacrifices.
Forget not to be happy now:
Using an example from the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, President Uchtdorf described how one of the characters, Willy Wonka, hid golden tickets within chocolate bars, promising to reveal wonders to five people who discovered the tickets.
“In their anxiousness, people began to forget the simple joy they used to find in a candy bar. The candy bar itself becomes an utter disappointment if it does not contain a golden ticket,” President Uchtdorf said. Whatever a “golden ticket” may represent to each person, President Uchtdorf warned Relief Society sisters to not put their happiness on hold as they wait for a future event, or golden ticket, to appear.
“The lesson here,” he said,” is that if we spend our days waiting for fabulous roses, we could miss the beauty and wonder of the tiny forget-me-nots that are all around us.”
Forget not the “why” of the gospel:
President Uchtdorf said that sometimes, in the routines of daily life, the vital aspects of the gospel of Jesus Christ are unintentionally overlooked. “We sometimes see the gospel as a long list of tasks that we must add to our already impossibly long “to do” lists. We focus on what the Lord wants us to do and how we might do it, but we sometimes forget why.”
President Uchtdorf reminded the sisters that the gospel is not an obligation, but a pathway leading to happiness and peace in this life and “glory and inexpressible fulfillment” in the life to come.
Forget not that the Lord loves you:
In closing, President Uchtdorf said, “Just think of it: You are known and remembered by the most majestic, powerful, and glorious being in the universe! You are loved by the King of infinite space and everlasting time.”
“You may at times feel a little like the forget-me-not—insignificant, small, or tiny in comparison with others,” he said, noting: “I hope (the forget-me-not) will be a symbol of the little things that make your lives joyful and sweet.”
"I choose to dress modestly because the way I dress is a reflection of who I am, and I am a daughter of God."
I love this video about a girl who decided to have a 'prom dress shop' in her house so that girls could find modest dresses for their prom.
Click to watch!!
This summer is definitely wedding season for me and it can be really frustrating to try and find something that is elegant and dainty without being immodest. As a Latter-Day Saint I choose to follow dress standards that shows respect to my body and to God. I think in England, however, it can be really hard to find clothes that are modest. Normal shopping conversations tend to go like this:
"I wish this had sleeves"
"It's just too short"
"It looked modest until I tried it on"
However, just because it is difficult to find modest clothing does not mean that we should just dress immodestly and blame the current fashion trends for the reason we find it difficult to buy modest clothes. At the moment, the fashion trend in England is very much in our favour as maxi dresses and midi-length skirts are the height of spring fashion and can be easily bought from nearly all high street stores, so why not stock up now on longer-length skirts and dresses? In that way, even if the dresses don't have sleeves, we can easily improvise by putting a bolero on top or a top underneath.
Also, leggings are not modest. They are skin-tight and more often than not are totally see-through. I have had the misfortune of seeing many people walking around with their underwear glaring at me from underneath their leggings. Personally, I don't understand why they are such a big craze.
A poster at BYU
As this poster says, leggings do not make short skirts or short shorts modest. I know it can be really difficult to find clothes that meet the dress standards we should have as Latter-Day Saints, but that doesn't mean we have to lower them at all. Even though it requires more time and more adjustments, the end result is definitely more worthwhile and like the girl Charity in the video mentioned - when we dress modestly we are more aware of who we really are.
After watching that video I have come away with a more renewed determination to live the standards in the Strength of Youth and to also be more conscious about choosing to dress modestly so that I can be an example to those around me.
