I was asked sometime last year to speak to the Young Women in our ward. It was so fun to hang out with my girls again! I miss them so much. It was so nice to be able to talk to them about something near and dear to my heart.
My little speech is a miracle. I do not write and whenever I sit down to write a talk it takes me forever! I usually don't come up with any words until the night before. With this I sat down and it just came to me!
I wanted to share it with you too, so here it is:
To start off I would like to quote a man I admire, though fictional his words came from a mind that is real. This same mind came put these words in his character’s mouth “nine hundred years of time and space and I’ve never met anybody who wasn’t important before.”
I am here to tell you that young women are glorious. The divine potential in them is limitless. One of God’s greatest creations. Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies.
Words from a real man (whom also is a man that spoke for God) Gordon B. Hinckley said
“Woman is God’s supreme creation. Only after the earth had been formed, after the day had been separated from the night, after the waters had been divided from the land, after vegetation and animal life had been created, and after man had been placed on the earth, was woman created; and only then was the work pronounced complete and good…Of all the creations of the Almighty, there is none more beautiful, none more inspiring than a lovely daughter of God who walks in virtue with an understanding of why she should do so, who honors and respects her body as a thing sacred and divine, who cultivates her mind and constantly enlarges the horizon of her understanding, who nurtures her spirit with everlasting truth.”
As young women we (because we all have a young women inside of us) stand in different places and we walk different paths. This is how God intended it. We are individual’s with many gifts: Music, sports, organization, patience, love, being happy, things that come to us naturally, things that we have to work at and some things that ain’t happening in this life time.
Let’s face it we would all get very bored if we were the same. I believe this is so we can teach and learn from each other. Every life is different and is in need of different things. The gifts that God gives us are personalized for us and are the tools that we are given to return to him.
Jealousy can grow from these differences it is because sometime we cannot see that we are also great and glorious. With our eyes we cannot see ourselves. I can see you and I can picture what I look like, but I can’t see my face. If I try hard enough I see the tip of my nose and that just looks big and blurry. We can look in mirrors, but that image can be distorted by what the world has deemed beautiful.
What good is a fork when faced with a bowl of soup? Maybe we think the fork will make us more popular, or prettier. Whatever the case is, when the time comes we will wish we still had that spoon. The spoon represents the talents we have that we do not work at because we don’t see their worth.
You might think right now that you will never forget and that you will always remember and hold dear to what I have told you, but you will be put into situations meant to break you, meant to make you feel small and worthless. It will be a trial of your faith and testimony. I urge you to make your testimony strong on this fact. You are a daughter of God who loves you. He has given you many gifts that were meant just for you to get you through life. Also, please remember that this rings true for all young women, not just those in our Church. Help them see who they are and what they can be. Be the hands of Christ and reach out. We are God’s masterpieces.
