Sunday, May 22, 2011

Sunday thoughts

For my Sunday thoughts, I'm turning again to my notes from Women's Conference.

I attended a class taught by Ann M. Dibb and Mary N. Cook called Women of God. The class started with a musical number (performed by several young women) called Guardians of Virtue. I thought it was very touching.

  • "Women of God can never be like women of the world. The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity." -- Margaret Nadauld (This is one of my favorite quotes ever and is a recipe for the woman I want to become.)
  • What kind of legacy will we leave behind? What will we be known for? Sister Dibb likes to read the obituaries, and shared a few snippets:
"She nourished our bodies as well as our souls."
"She showed true grit in trials."
"We know that he is now with God, who loves him even more than we do."
  • Here are some legacies that people in the scriptures left behind:
great faith
just men
sober child
quick to observe
my friend
courage
mighty
without guile
good Samaritan
advocate
  • To leave a good legacy, we can: be teachable, practice moral discipline, shun evil, repent, forget ourselves and serve God.
  • This life is about becoming better, becoming like the Savior.
  • The adversary, in subtle but very real ways, is slowly extinguishing the spark of divine nature.
  • In order to nurture our divine nature, we need to know our real identity as daughters of God, we need to have a testimony and be witnesses of God, and we need to have the Spirit with us.
  • Being in the world and not of the world requires making constant choices.
  • Make it a priority to be still and ponder.
  • Women are very often the catalysts for true changes.
  • Disobedience suffocates the Spirit's promptings.
  • Examples do matter. Every woman who strengthens the family and chooses the right becomes an example.

I am feeling highly motivated to be a woman of God. When I think of the legacy I want to leave my children and grandchildren, it has nothing to do with being tough, coarse, greedy, famous, vain, popular, etc. and everything to do with being tender, kind, refined, virtuous, pure, and faithful. I know what I need to do!

5 comments:

Shauna said...

Loved this class and that song is beautiful!!!!! I think I missed your group coming and going!

Susan said...

My YW lesson was about what we leave as a legacy today. How I wish I would have had your notes! I love being reminded by someone else's notes the things I want to study.

Once again, my thoughts are turned to Ben,and what I could/should do to act on "Charity Never Faileth". I have some good days and some not so good days at being able to do this. I'm too tough with him, that's for sure. I'm going to study your notes and mine too in order to try to make the changes I need to make.

I think you've been on the right path for most of your adult life. I admire your womanhood and want to try to be more like you.

I love you.

patsy said...

I love these notes!
I want to be this too!!

You have a real gift for note taking... I do not.
I'm so glad you shared this. I want to print it & put it on my bathroom mirror as a daily reminder.

Jill said...

I love that first quote and remember sharing that in a visiting message awhile ago.

I am totally daunted by the thought of the legacy I am leaving because I'm so afraid of the bad parts of it. I know there are good things, but my poor kids will have plenty of material in the other direction as well.

At Stake Conference today someone said, "You are always an example for someone, someone is always watching us."

Charlotte said...

I loved this class. I had forgotten about some of the points made in the talks (especially the ones I didn't have in my notes), and it's so nice to read this recap and reminder.

I feel like I'm barely starting to grasp what it means to be a woman in this time. I especially love the point that knowing our divine nature will be greatly empowering.

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