Skip to main content

Personal Progress

Recently, two sisters in my ward, grown women like myself, were awarded their Young Womanhood Recognition medallions in Sacrament Meeting. This medallion is (normally) given to young women who pursue a program of setting and achieving goals, known as Personal Progress. For those of use who are LDS, it's generally considered a coming of age accomplishment, sort of like getting your Eagle Scout Award.

Now, in the spirit of true confessions, I never got my Young Womanhood award. I had an awful lot going on during my Junior High and High School years, and just never got around to it. When I first went to Ricks College, and then BYU, I did feel a little out of place for not having it, but after awhile, it didn't really matter anymore, or so I thought. But as I saw these ladies get their medallions, it sort of started to matter again.

Well this week I found out there is good news. Any woman can indeed get it, as long as they pursue the program as outlined for the Young Women. So in the spirit of making sure I'm putting the Lord first in my life, I've since started working on it.

Now, you may be wondering, why on earth, when I've got an already crazy schedule with work and school and everything in between, would I start yet another goal and achievement program? But as I was pondering the other night how to pay for school for next semester, and how to accomplish  all of the things I'm currently pursuing, I had the distinct impression to make sure I was seeking first the kingdom of God. What came to mind then was the story of Elijah and the widow, in 1 Kings 17. Here she was, poor and starving, preparing to make her last meal for herself and her son, and the prophet counsels her to make him something to eat first. In the spirit of acting in faith, she does so, and the scriptures report that "she, and he, and her household, did eat many days. And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, ". So - like the poor widow, I am hopeful that a similar blessing will occur for me in my situation as well.

I intend to make personal progress a regular Sabbath activity for the next few months. And I can report that based on my review of the Young Women values and requirements for the program, I am already well on my way to fulfilling the first value. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Hi, my name's Tracie and I'm a Mormon. That being said, I've provided enough context for the conversation I had with the receptionist at work today: Christy: (Showing me a photo) What picture is this movie from? Me: Mmmm, Serendipity maybe? Christy: No...you should know this. Me: I should? Christy: (Finally) It's from the movie "Charlie"! Me: How would I know that? I don't watch Mormon movies. They're dumb. Now that I've let the cat out of the bag, I guess I should also confess that I also don't listen to Mormon pop music (other than the original recording of The Forgotten Carols), or read Mormon fiction. So sue me. Let's face it, it's not like most of them are of real quality anyway. When it comes to Mormon music, I'll stick with my MoTab and the hymns of Zion.

Triple D Divas Do Northern Utah

Last Saturday, the Triple D Divas met for a day trip get-away to Northern Utah - specifically Logan and Brigham City (with a little touch of Idee-ho thrown in for good measure). We started our journey with lunch at the Bluebird Cafe. Everyone knows about the Bluebird - it's about the oldest place on main street, and is tradition for anyone whose ever done a Logan Temple Trip. We went in to see the Logan Tabernacle, and I snapped this cool picture of the oragn pipes. (Of course, now that we're all in our 40's and have shrinking bladders, the Tabernacle also made for a clean and convenient potty stop.) ...Also a view of the Logan Temple spires from outside the Tabernacle...    From there, it was off to Glossner's Cheese Factory for some squeaky cheese. After that, we went to the Pepperidge Farms Outlet, and the girls all found some cookies and stuff.  But nothing really excited me there.  However, the outlet is located...

Columbia River Temple

While I was at home in Oregon, the parents and I also took some time to drive over to Tri-Cities, Washington, to visit the Columbia River Temple, and walk around the grounds. The temple was closed for cleaning, but it was great to be on the grounds anyway. It was a beautiful day, capped off by a BYU win over Nebraska (you can see by Dad's shirt that he's representing, which most of us Mormons are wont to do whenever we go anywhere).