Oh my goodness it has been a while. Gotta get back ontop of it!
I have no idea what this post will be about :).
Don't you just love springtime? It is new beginnings, Easter, growing, beauty, love joy and peace. I love all the flowers and birds and no snow. After a whole crazy winter, with -25 degrees and more inches of snow than I could count, I am grateful for the warmth. The sun on my face. The short sleeves. I love it!!!
Today you readers are going to do a little activity with me. Yay! (I know, you love it!)
If you want to leave your answers in the comments, that would be great! I know you will help others with your testimony! But if they are too personal to share, then by all means, it had better go in a journal or something. I won't be offended :)
Fill this out in your head or on a piece of paper (or in my comments. That's great too!)
(Alright people, don't quit! I promise this is an uplifting exercise! I'm not trying to be gloomy)
Wait wait! But this post isn't supposed to be gloomy!
Soooo..... What I like/don't like about myself______________________________________________
Names I have called myself in the mirror (keep it PG, kids) _____________________________
What I wish I could be like______________________________________________________
What I would do if I weren't scared_______________________________________________
Now do this part honestly:
Times I have complemented myself today (hard to remember?) ______________________________
Times I have thought negatively about my situation, appearance, skills, gifts, etc today _______________
If you are anything like me (and the rest of the world) then there are a ton of things you would change about yourself, tons of opportunities you hold yourself back from because of fear, little good about you that you see, lots you wish you could have, and there are more negative thoughts about your life than there are positive.
Why is this? It's sad really.
There is so many more uplifting things you can do than point out the wrong in your life. But we do it all the time, self-consciously. When you look in the mirror, give yourself a break! Nobody is perfect!
So, now, wipe all those negative thoughts about yourself away. (Thanks Eliza. You just made me unhappy. Now what am I supposed to do?!) It might take a little work. Need some help? Watch this video: (Please, it is only like 3 minutes long, and I promise it will help change those negative feelings to positive ones)
Okay, that was a tear-jerker. But it is so true! Who has ever felt like the ugly duckling? Like no one loves him/her, like they are unusually large (I am SO there with you, bro) or ugly or untalented. The world taunts you because of your imperfections. But that is because they don't know who we will be.
Heavenly Father sees us as we truly are and who we can become. When you look into the mirror next time, I hope you can see beyond imperfections, and see the true beauty that lies within you.
So try this again:
What I like about myself_____________________________________________________________
What I can do to remind myself of my true worth (like putting a sticky note on the mirror to remind you to not let those criticizing thoughts creep up on you, but that you are a child of God) __________________
What I will do now_________________________________________________________________
Things I am grateful for, reasons I am grateful for being me____________________________________
If I were to meet Uchtdorf, what I would say to him :) ________________________________________
How I can help others realize they are swans________________________________________________
I feel like I use this topic a lot, but I think it is really important. Remember that God made you who you are, that all trials will work together for your good, and that you are a swan. Even if you feel like an ugly duckling, you truly are a swan!!
So I was watching A Little Princess yesterday. Absolutely love that movie.
We are all princesses. Well, or princes. You know what I mean. ;)
You are a daughter of Heavenly Father, who loves you. He is the most high King, and he knows you personally. As his daughter, you have the potential to become like him, a queen. You can do things beyond your imagination.
Through Christ is the only way that we can inherit the kingdom of God. As we follow the path he has laid out for us, we will be able to find our own happily ever after.
Someday, we will meet that prince and get married in a beautiful castle. Someday we will live together forever in happiness.
Remember, you are a princess. There was a talk in conference a couple years ago about a prince who was visiting neighboring countries. His friends tried to tempt him to lie, cheat, and take advantage of this opportunity away from the scrutinizing eyes of his kingdom and parents. When asked why he wouldn't partake in these immoral actions, he said that he couldn't imagine returning to home without being the best example of a prince. He would not compromise his honor for some fun.
I hope we may all remember that one day, we truly will be queens. Be humble, kind, compassionate, faithful, loving, virtuous, and patient like a queen and princess should be. Even when you feel small and insignificant, never forget who your eternal dad is. He will protect you, and he knows the beauty and grace that is inside you.
You are a princess. Now live up to your potential.
There is a myth out there that if you crush coal it will turn into a diamond. Scientists are still debating whether it is true or not, but there are a couple things they do know. Coal and diamonds are both made of the element carbon. When carbon is put under a lot of pressure and heat, it is incredibly transformed into the beautiful, valuable jewel we have now. However, you can see that if the conditions are not quite right, you will only be able to have coal.
In our lives, Heavenly Father gives us trials to test us. Just like the carbon, as we react with a good attitude to this pressure, we will become something beautiful. God knows what type of trials we need in order to make us humble, teachable, righteous, patient, and strong. Then, through the refiner's fire, we will be polished and molded to become the best we can be, to reach the potential of what He knows we can become. There are so many things you can do beyond your imagination, and as God gives us trials and heat, we can get closer to our full potential.
Many have said that through adversity, we grow spiritually ten times faster. We learn and grow better, and as we turn to our Father in Heaven through our trials, he will make us stronger. Have faith and hope that God will get you through. And remember, the only difference between a piece of coal and a dazzling diamond is how they responded to pressure. ;)
You have the potential to become the beautiful diamond that God knows you can be. Trust him, and he will lead you on.
Okay, so it might just be the artist in me, but I just love Crayola.
So, on Sunday our lesson was on unity. They asked us how we could describe unity in an object lesson. I came up with this:
So, say everyone is assigned a color. We are all crayons, and your color is brown. That kind of stinks, you think. You can't draw beautiful rainbows, or paint a night sky. You can't make awe-inspiring sunshine like yellow, and you didn't even get a color that stands for beauty at all. But it was the luck of the draw, and you are stuck with it.
As you continue on your career as a crayon, you notice you are the last color picked. Little children have loved and worn down all the purples to a stump, yet you've only been used once to draw a girls hair. No love for you. Soon the box is discarded and you are left alone with the other colors, only half used and unloved, while they taunt you because the only thing you are good for drawing is dung.
Alone, you feel ugly and unwanted. Looking at the other colors, you notice red is too rash and glaring, orange too prideful, yellow is somewhat unkind. Green gets jealous often, blue is depressed, and purple seems to be hiding something. Alone, all the colors have lost their beauty. You start to wonder why the world even invented crayons, if every color alone is disgusting.
But there is one who sees your true worth. That is Heavenly Father. The world is like a child, telling us we need to be perfect this and perfect that. It uses us for a short scribble, but quickly the trends change and you are discarded. Remember, Satan is never there to lift you up.
Heavenly Father sees the worth in your humble color. Though you may not have apparent beauty, God sees your full potential. He is the Master Artist and Creator, he sees us as we can one day be.
The Artist finds the discarded colors and is sad. The world has degraded and belittled us. But he knows how to guide us to become a beautiful masterpiece. We just need to put our crayon in his hand and let him do his magic.
This picture of deer is what a true Master can do. And look! Your humble brown is the main event! No longer can blue and red belittle you, for you were made to do amazing things!
I guess I strayed a little from the unity aspect. The truth is, our self worth is so important when we work together. We each have our own strengths and weaknesses, but when we come together and work together, led by a loving Heavenly Father, we can do incredible things.
