A Light Among the Nations

I have been thinking a lot lately about our standards as a church (if you don't know what I am talking about you can find it here in the "For the Strength of Youth).

Most if not all of you should know that the youth theme for this year is "Arise and Shine Forth". This is taken from the scripture from Doctrine and Covenants 115:5

"Verily I say unto you all: Arise and shine forth, that thy 

light may be a standard for the nations."

Today we had a lesson on this scripture and so I thought it would be good to share some things that I heard today that confirmed my testimony on the subject.

This is how I break this scripture down:

ALL- This is to and about everyone!! Not just the few. You need to take the responsibility upon yourself and not leave it for others to do.

ARISE-This ain't happening over night. You have to stand up and get to it!

SHINE FORTH- Don't keep that special light inside you. You can show it through your actions. You don't have to do a big service project (not that it hurts to) to show your light, sometimes it just takes a smile.

STANDARD-Decide what your standards are. Are you going to choose the standards the lord has given you? If you don't than your light isn't going to shine very much. 

NATION- People will notice and you may not realize, but your a virus. I mean that in a good way. Well, I guess you could be a bad one two. The way we act will influence the people around us. If we're being the good kind of virus than we could spread out light everywhere just by infecting one person. 

You could not peg me as a Mormon girls who just does what she's told like a mindless puppet. I have hate it when people way that the youth in our church say that we are blind followers. I have questioned the standards and found my life is 109% when I am keeping them high. Questioning things is good when you do it in the right way. If it wasn't for Joseph Smith's questions we wouldn't have the gospel. We are taught to question and test the word of God. That's how we gain our testimonies. When we pray and study for the answers we want and we will get them. Sometimes not when we want it, when we need it.

We have standards to protect us and also to make us stronger. "For the Strength of Youth" has it's name for a reason. When we are keeping the standards we are protecting our spirit, but also our physical bodies. I hear so many of our standards being proved right by science. My young leader told us once that it was proven that if a guy sees a girls legs higher than the knee than they are more likely to think of things higher. Don't make me spell it out for you, because you should know where I am getting at. If that's not a reason to be modest I don't know what is. 

My advice for the day is to read the standards in the "For the Strength of Youth" and do a assessment of your life.  Find your weak areas and make a plan for how your going to change. I have done this exact thing and my life has been so much better. It was well worth getting rid of that one song, that one shirt, and that one word. Keep your standers high don't let the world rub off on you!

We need to be that light, that standard. If we are not willing, than who is?