A few recent experiences have taken my mind back to the
times when I was a young girl and a teenager. I recall, more clearly than I
would like probably, how hard it was to be growing up LDS. Perhaps the part
that made it most difficult for me was I felt like I stuck out like a sore
thumb when, during those vulnerable years, I really would have preferred to
just be invisible. At that point in my life, I truly did not have a strong
sense of who I was and what it meant to be a daughter of God. Every Sunday I
would standup and recite the Young Woman’s theme, only to go back home and feel
like I could not measure up to the standards the world appeared to be setting
for me. I was told over and over that my God loved me and loved everyone, but I
still felt the constant pressure from media and peers telling me that my value
was rooted in what I looked like.
I made it all the way through Personal Progress, completing
every single one of the values. I was 16 when I finished. Yet, it wasn’t until
just a few days ago, now that I am 21 and at BYU, that I believe I realized
what it means to truly be a daughter of a Heavenly Father who loves me.
In one of my classes, we were discussing the sexualization
of women and how dangerous that has become in our world today. At the
conclusion of our discussion, my professor had all the girls in the room stand.
He asked if we remember the Young Woman’s theme that most of us hadn’t recited
for many years. We all began to recite the theme in unison and as we completed
saying all the values, he quickly told us to pause and hold on for a second.
He looked directly in my eyes and the eyes of every other
woman standing in the room and then at each guy and said something to the
effect of “Those values you just said to me are what make a real woman. Your
value to this society lies in your adherence to those values, not the size of
your jeans, your waist, your hair color, or anything else. Everyone is of
infinite worth, but what you contribute to this world is not based on how you
look; It is based on who you are and what you contribute through those values
you just gave to me. That is what it means to be a daughter of God”
I had never before had my role as a daughter of God
explained to me so powerfully and directly than I did that day. What makes a
REAL woman? One who encompasses Faith • Divine Nature • Individual Worth •
Knowledge • Choice and Accountability • Good Works • Integrity • and Virtue. Nowhere
in those values do we say we believe that we value “a perfect waste, designer
clothes, perfect makeup” or anything in-between. What the Lord sees as a true
daughter of God is rooted in values much deeper than any of that; it is all
about who we are and who we are striving to become. I hope more young women
figure this out sooner than I did. We can listen to the voice of the media
around us telling us what we should value, but I know that my true value is
rooted in the values I hold in my heart.
“But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not
on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused
him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the
outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the
heart.”
—1st Samuel 16:7--
