Deep Beauty

My mothers Day was a fabulous day filled with breakfast burritos, family and lots of little hand prints made just for me.  I hope yours was just as special for you.

Here is a message that I was able to share with my ward about women on Mothers Day.

This is a subject that I spend a lot of time thinking about and a subject that I love.  In my life I have been blessed by the examples of so many great women.  Young Women’s leaders, Aunts, Friends, Sisters, ward members, Grandmothers and most importantly my own Mother.  All of these women are talented women that I think are BEAUTIFUL.  They stand out above most women in the world and I wanted to know why.  So one day I remember sitting down and writing in my journal that I wanted to grow up to be like these women. I wanted to be just as BEAUTIFUL as they are. I just couldn’t put into words exactly why they were so beautiful to me.  So I began to write out specific qualities that each of the women possessed that I found inspiring and that I wanted to have someday. 

           

I wrote that they are BEAUTIFUL because they are classy.  Some of them are mothers. They are smart.  They are confident.  They use their talents to better others lives.  They are funny.  They make me want to be better.  They all seem to get more BEAUTIFUL with age.  They are all daughters of God and they all they live their lives as such. They teach and testify of him each day by the way they choose to live their lives.  In the clothes that they wear, the way that they speak and in the activities that occupy their time.

            

Elaine S. Dalton, the Young Women’s General President, helped me to define this BEAUTY in her talk Remember Who You Are that she gave at this last Young Women’s Conference.  She calls it “deep beauty” the kind of BEAUTY that shines from the inside out.  It is the kind of BEAUTY that cannot be painted on, surgically created, or purchased.  It is the kind of BEAUTY that doesn’t wash off.  It is spiritual attractiveness.  Deep BEAUTY springs from virtue.  It is the BEAUTY of being chaste and morally clean.  It is the kind of BEAUTY that you see in the eyes of virtuous women like your mother and grandmother.  It is a BEAUTY that is earned through faith, repentance and honoring covenants. 

            

In this definition she mentioned that DEEP BEAUTY springs from virtue.  These women that I have admired are so DEEPLY BEAUTIFUL to me because they are virtuous.  Preach my Gospel tells us that Virtue is a pattern of thought and behavior based on high moral standards.  It is being clean and pure spiritually.  It is obeying God’s commandments and following the counsel of Church leaders.  It is praying for strength to resist temptation and doing what is right.  To live worthy of a temple recommend. We are also told in D and C 121 that if we “let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and ….the Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion.”

            

In Proverbs 31 it tells us that a virtuous woman is priced above Rubies.  It then goes on to give us a guide to being virtuous or BEAUTIFUL by using words such as trustworthy and good, worketh willingly, strengthen, honor, rejoice, kindness and hands. 

           

I love how they mention the word hands in this chapter.  Our hands play such a huge role in our lives.  They allow us to work and to serve and to prove what we have in our hearts.  In Proverbs 31:31 it says, “Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.”   As we use our hands to do the work that is in our hearts they help to tell a story about us as individuals.  For example my mothers hands may seem regular to any other person but to me they show what kind of a mother she is.  The skin is starting to crack and wrinkle in all the right spots because they held me as a newborn.  They rocked me to sleep and changed my diapers.  They tied my shoes and wiped away my tears.  They taught me to play the piano and spent many hours practicing with me.  They made me dinner every night and then washed my dishes afterwards.  They taught me how to work and how to play.  They clapped for me at concerts, ballgames and races.   They hugged me in a way that only they can.  They taught me how to cook, sew and how to be a mother.  My mother’s hands served me and taught me and most importantly I know that they have prayed for me.  I can remember walking into her room to ask her a question and seeing her praying so fervently for me and my brothers and sisters.  She did this because she loved me and she wanted me to become the best that I could.  She wanted me to know that I am a daughter of God.  She wanted me to be a virtuous woman.  She wanted me to feel that I am as BEAUTIFUL as Heavenly Father knows that I am when I glow with the light of the Spirit, when I am confident and courageous because I am living virtuously. 

           

This is the kind of BEAUTY that really matters and the only BEAUTY that really lasts.  The kind of BEAUTY that has drawn me to the women that I talked about at the beginning of my talk.  The kind of BEAUTY that President Hinckley meant when he says that, “Each of us is a daughter of God, endowed with a divine birthright.”  Which is the same kind of BEAUTY that the Lord tells Emma Smith that she has when he says. “she is an elect Lady, who was called of God.”

           

Why strive for this kind of DEEP BEAUTY?  What do we as members of the 14^th ward have to offer?  President Kimball responds to this question by saying, “Righteous women are a blessing to those whom their lives touch.  In the world before we came here, faithful women were given certain assignments.  While we do not now remember the particulars… we are accountable for those things which long ago were expected of us.  Every sister who stands for truth and righteousness diminishes the influence of evil.  Every sister who strengthens and protects her family is doing the work of God.  Every sister who lives as a woman of God becomes a beacon for others to follow and plants seeds of righteous influence that will be harvested for decades to come.  Every sister who makes and keeps sacred covenants becomes an instrument in the hands of God.”

It matters because it is expected of us.  We need to do it to testify of God as women and mothers because it is expected of us.  I pray that as we do these things and as we “walk in paths of virtue… Lay aside the things of the world… Cleave unto the covenants which thou has made…and keep my commandments continually, that a crown of righteousness thou shalt receive.” And “the angels cannot be restrained from being our associates.”

I am truly grateful today for the BEAUTIFUL virtuous women that I have had the opportunity to look up to and pattern my life after as a daughter of God and a mother.  I pray that as I strive to be more like my Savior that I too can radiate true BEAUTY and testify of him in everything that I do. 

I know that I am a daughter of God and he loves me.  I know being a mother is a divine role that requires a lot of work and prayer.  I pray that I have the spirit in my life so I know when the Lord needs to use my hands to do his work.  I also know that our Savior loves us and gave the ultimate sacrifice.