Stephenson Family Ties The Barn Burnt Down
And Now I See The Moon
The only difference between you
and God is that you have
forgotten you are divine.
from: The Lost Symbol
by: Dan Brown



Most Mormon women know exactly what one means when they get to talking about the Young Women's Personal Progress Program. From the moment a young girl turns 12 she is introduced to the inspired program as she is also introduced to the Young Womens organization.

And now apparently it is my turn, as an old lady, to become acquainted and to embrace this program- along with the amazing girls I 've been called to serve in our ward/congregation. And I've decided that I might as well take you along with me on the journey of my 'enlightenment.'

First off, there are 8 values:
Faith, Divine Nature, individual worth, knowledge, choice and accountability, good works, integrity and virtue.
This month the value we will be highlighting is- Divine Nature.
The scripture reference used to describe the value is found in 2 Peter1:4-7

Be partakers of the divine nature...Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

To earn a beautiful ribbon to add to a sought after scripture bookmark.. I will have to pass off 3 required value experiences plus some additional value projects. Plus I have to journal.
So guess what!!??
You may find that I can fill some of my 'requirements' via blogging. (blogging is the perfect solution to so many things)
You can chose to follow my progress and my learning curve...
Or NOT!!!
But I am determined to work as hard and to learn as much as these amazing young women- as they too, progress in this amazing program.

So HEre We Go!!!

What is Divine Nature?
What does a daughter of God look like?
What can I do to improve or develop the qualities of divine nature?

I have learned that divine nature includes these attributes:
being humble, submissive, gentle, being easily entreated. Patience, long-suffering and being temperate in all things. It means keeping the commandments and being grateful, having faith, hope and charity. And having virtue garnish our thoughts.

Im the first to admit that at first glance, at any glance, at multiple glances, when forever glancing at this list, one becomes a tad overwhelmed!!!
But with determination and lots of prayer and faith, and not expecting perfection- we can/ I can, accomplish a great many good things with this list.
And because of the way in which I was raised-by goodly parents and as I was nurtured and 'raised' by my patient, loving Builder...I feel I have been blessed with a good start on this list of worthy attributes.
I'd like to share my thoughts on a few of the listed qualities to strive for as a daughter of God.

Being humble:
Im not sure how my mom and dad did it...but I feel I have always been a fairly humble person. When younger, humbleness and lack of good self-esteem were all jumbled up in the feelings I had about myself. Growing up I found I wasnt proud of most everything I did. Now that Im older and wiser, ha ha, I do realize that having low self-esteem and being humble are two completely different attitudes. I still suffer from a minimum amount of self-esteem issues (its a tough world we live in) But I no longer have the truckload of baggage that I carried with me for the first half of my life. (though being called as a Young Womens president raised once again those old feelings of inadequacy.) But the clothes I wear, the car I drive (OUCH...maybe a little pain there) the fine lines and deep crevices on my face dont cause the longings and despair that might once have taken me down!! To me being humble is about acknowledging where ALL my blessing, gifts, talents, all that I have, come from!!! Being humble means being teachable!!!
Man oh Man am I humble now!!!

Being submissive:
Im sure its the same with you as it is with me... all sorts of negative connotations come to mind with you think of being called to submissiveness. These images rack my mind with 'girl power' yearning-when I go there!!!
Being submissive to the will of the Lord is easy for me...especially in comparison to the call for me to be of being submissiveness to anyone else!!! Just ask my Builder!!!
Who me!!!??
Submissive!!!!
NEXT!!!!

Gentleness:
Who comes to your mind when you think of gentleness? For me its once again my mother and my mother-in-law. Never have I heard them raise their voices or even think about doing such a thing. Never have I witnessed tempers flare. My Builder falls again into this category as well. He's gentle and kind and all children, adults and all of God's critters love to be around him.
Just know that I am much gentler than I was!!

What does it mean to be easily entreated?
I have some homework to do.
I'll get back to you on this one.

Patience:
Oh my.
My oh my.
I am patient.
Now I am patient.
Not when I first married my man. I was anything but.
But now I am definitely patient.
Dont get me started. Just believe me.
PATIENCE IS MINE!!!!
(not too humble about this one am I?)

Long suffering:
Is this any different than patience?
(more homework)

Keeping the commandments:
The world would have us believe that the 10 commandments are out-dated and obsolete or pass'e. Not so!!! The commandments are what keeps this world glued together . I believe that if a great many of us werent striving to keep the commandments, or doing our best to follow them, then I can almost envision this troubled world spinning off its axis. Thank heaven for those that try to keep the inspired commandments in the forefront of their minds. Let us never give up on or ignore the commandments!!!

And now I'll finish todays thoughts with the virtue of gratitude. Or now what's commonly called the 'attitude of gratitude."
I OWN this one as well. Being grateful for all that I enjoy comes easily to me. My mom must have modeled this to me as I was growing up. Im grateful for health and children and grocery stores and red rocks and turtles. Im grateful for the Gospel and my family and friends and for living in this country and for the service men that protect it. My list is LONG of the things I am grateful for!!! And I carry that list around in my heart- always!!!


I have a few more attributes to share with you on another day. Thanks for your patience and attention. tehetehe

image from flickr.com

2 comments:

Kim said...

You are an awesome teacher! I'm going to really enjoy and look forward to this "class". Thanks for sharing!

Lisa said...

Good for you, Cindy! I need to do this too, to help and support my little Beehive. We went to Standards Night last night...had to wipe away a tear to two to think my little girl is so grown up and in a world with THOSE kind of things around her. Thank you, Lord, for giving us guideposts and danger signs and good people to lead our babies...