She began her talk very differently than any I have ever heard her give. She began with her testimony. And it wasn't a short testimony. It was detailed, it was specific, and it was powerful.
She then mentioned the recent changes in the church: Missionaries at 18 and 19 years old instead of 19 and 21; the new youth program for Sunday School, the new strength of youth pamphlet, etc. And she emphasized multiple times that those aren't just for the 12-18 yr olds. They are for us as young adults as well.
She talked about how the history of this church revolves around young men and women. I mean, Joseph Smith was only 14 when he had the first vision. Do you realize how young that is? All the first members of this church were in their twenty's or early thirty's. In the Book of Mormon, captain Moroni led the whole Nephite armies when he was only 25. Mormon was instructed about the entire collection of the plates of the Nephites when he was just 10 years old. Later on, he became the leader of the whole Nephite army at the age of 15! Wow. I can't even imagine. The examples could continue down to modern leaders of the church. Anyways. She made several of these examples. She talked about the power of the youth and the young adults of the church.
And then she said she wanted to give us this counsel:
"Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou and example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity."
Her first point of counsel is what struck me that hardest: "Don't ever let anyone tell you that you are too young!" To get married, to serve a mission, to be an influence for good, etc. This was super powerful to me. How often have I said, "I'm too young to be married, I'm to little for that, I'm not ready, I'm not prepared," etc. She said how the decisions that most affected her life were made between the ages of 18 and 30. She made the best decision of her life in her early 20's when she chose to marry her husband. Here at BYU.
As she was speaking I finally realized that I'm sick of saying that I'm not ready or that I'm too young. Because it doesn't really matter and it's not really true. Life events aren't supposed to be delayed until we are perfectly mature and emotionally competent and completely happy. How silly is that?! Big life decisions aid in that process, probably better than almost anything else we can do. Especially in relation to marriage and motherhood. I'm not going to be ready for marriage. No one ever is. Because you can't be prepared without jumping into it. And as you move forward the Lord strengthens you. And you mature at the rate that you need to. You grow in the ways you need to as you fulfill the calling you were given. I feel so unprepared to be a mother. But I don't think it would be any good to wait (after I'm married of course) for years to try to feel more prepared. I've had the first twenty something years to do that. And motherhood is just as much a journey as finding who you are, finding your weaknesses and strengths, and having faith as you continue to move forward.
Okay. Those are my thoughts :)
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