Sunday Thoughts

A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words...

On Sundays, I teach the 12-13 year old young women in our congregation. It is a fantastic blessing - I love sitting in that small room and hearing what those women have to say. This month, we have been talking about being Self-Reliant. Due to some scheduling conflicts, I was only able to be with the girls two Sundays out of the month of November. The first Sunday, we talked a bit about what it means to be self-reliant, and why that is important. (Of course, today, when I asked them what they remembered from that lesson, it sounded like I had instructed them in the fine art of Off the Grid Hermitage. Huh.) 

Today, we talked about how to get answers to problems in our lives. We talked about productive, and non-productive, ways to deal with adversity. I asked the girls to come up with some issues that they or their friends might be dealing with. Grades, family relationships, arguments, friendships. They came up with examples from the scriptures that could be used to offer guidance in those situations. We talked about great friendships from the scriptures, strong families, and feuds. Then we erased all those ideas, and we talked about "non-productive" ways to deal with the issues. Closing up, self-medicating, self-harming, drugs, alcohol. Things that seem so obviously bad on paper, in a church, but which might seem more appealing in a moment of pain or frustration. I encouraged the girls to make the decision now, in the safety of a quiet classroom, of how they would deal with life's disappointments. We talked about how to find the guidance we needed - scriptures, leaders, parents, general conference addresses from our prophet and apostles. (Also? The woman who helps me with these girls showed us something awesome today - the Ensign magazine, Friend magazine, and New Era are all available for free, inside Newstand on the iPad. You can download full-color versions of the magazine, instead of just the text-only version available on the Gospel Library app. Pretty sweet! You will be notified at the beginning of each new month when a new issue is available.) 

These girls are moving slowly, but surely, into adulthood. I am honored to help guide them on their way.