Our theme is “My Mountain” This theme idea came to me shortly after I was called as YW president. I was thinking about what I would like to share with you YW. What have I learned through my life experience that might help you face the challenges you may face in your own lives.
This morning while I was eating breakfast I thought about a song I used to sing with my kids when they were little.
“Goin’ on a lion hunt. Gonna catch a big one. But I’m not afraid. Cause I’ve got my toothbrush. My big red tooth brush. Stop. Look. And that’s when you would hit an obstacle, grass, mud, a cave etc. The next line is the one that I thought applied here: Can’t go over it can’t go under it can’t go around it, got to go through it.
Obstcles and trails are like that. You can’t go over them, you can’t go under them, you can’t go around them. You have to go through them.
I thought about overcoming trails and obstacles and facing challenges in life and how important it was for me to have a solid gospel foundation and testimony which I developed as a youth and which I depended on when I was far away from home and when things were unsteady or challenging.
I remembered a time when I was a missionary when I was going through some challenges. It was near Christmas time then too. I had just been made Sr. Companion and given as my Jr. companion a Japanese sister who I had previously worked with as a Jr. Companion. She had been depressed and she and the president thought that I would be a good influence for her.
Not only was I a new Sr. but I was in an unusual and sensitive situation.
Far from home in a challenging situation I thought about being half way through my mission and unable to skip ahead or back, but needing to face my challenges and overcome them and move through it and come out successfully on the other side.
I may have been a little homesick when I tried to express myself in a poem call “My Mountain” because the image of our Rocky Mtns. was clear in my mind as I wrote about them on the other side of the world.
I am sharing this poem with you tonight as a foundation or theme to focus us on as we try to prepare to climb and overcome our own life’s mountains.
Read Poem: “My Mountain”
How do we prepare ourselves to climb our life’s mountains?
Tonight we will share with you some vital supplies or equipment that we need to take with us on our journey up our mountain, and we will give each girl a moment to express how she is developing herself and preparing her spiritual pack by completing value experiences in Personal Progress.
If I were to go on a hike up a mountain I would prepare a pack like this: (hiking pack by table)
(Each item is added to the pack as it is discussed)
Faith--Food
One of the most important things I would have to take along would be food. I need something to nourish myself along the way to give me energy and strength to overcome the obstacles in my way and to keep moving along my path.
In my spiritual life I must also nourish myself daily basic acts such as prayer, scripture study and living the commandments supply me with daily spiritual nourishment that makes my soul strong and resilient, able to face and overcome challenges that come my way.
We exercise faith by living gospel principles, serving faithful, and trusting in the Lord and his promises.
Alma 57: 26, 27
Divine Nature/Fire
The next item I would pack with me is a means to warm myself, cook, find comfort, and purify. I am packing matches so that I can make a fire.
In my spiritual pack fire represents Divine Nature.
As daughters of our Heavenly Father who loves us we should be striving to develop qualities that make us become more like him. Qualities such as charity, peacemaking, obedience, and others
2 Peter 1:5-7
Fire/heat is used to purify metals by removing impurities, it can sanitize and cleanse. Spiritual fire is also used to cleanse our souls.
When we develop out divine nature we eliminate impurities from our lives and develop the higher qualities of our spiritual beings that make us more like our Heavenly Father.
Individual Worth/Map—Route
Next into my pack I need to place my map or guide. If I don’t know where I am supposed to go on my trek, how can I travel the correct course to arrive there safely? I need to have a plan.
In my spiritual climb, my map or guide is compared to knowing my Individual Worth. I need to understand that “I am of infinite worth with my own divine mission which I will strive to fulfill. I am going to read a portion from my Patriarchal Blessing. I feel this could have been written to each of us, and it expresses so well how our Father in Heaven sees each of us.
Excerpt from My patriarchal blessing:
“The Lord is pleased with you this day and wants you to know that he loves you. You are literally one of His daughters, one of the choice spirits called to come upon the earth at this time to perform special labors in His kingdom. Those labors cannot be performed by anyone else but you and no one else can have the privilege and the blessings that are set out for you but you.”
We are each uniquely qualified to fulfill missions on this earth. Learn what those are. Get your own patriarchal blessings to help you understand who you are and what your tasks are in this life.
Pray and get to know the Lord. Learn to recognize the spirit, follow it, let it testify to you of truth. Allow it to direct and guide your life. Get to know yourself as your Father in Heaven knows you and recognize your Individual Worth. Then you will know the route that you must travel and the destination that He has in mind for you on your soul’s journey.
How do we walk this path? By preparing ourselves and making “Personal Progress” a part of our lives.
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