Moving Right Along

Moving Right Along from the original Muppet Movie

Yesterday my world shifted. It was time for it to shift, but I felt the change deeply. I have been working with a group of young women in my church for the last two years. It has been some of the happiest, hardest, most fulfilling, educating, time-consuming, spirit building, heart-wrenching work I have ever done. I LOVE THESE GIRLS! They have occupied every Sunday and every Wednesday night (and many days in between) since February 2013. They have also occupied my thoughts, my prayers, and my heart! Add to this the amazing women that I have worked with and I am filled with a bundle of emotions at all of this coming to an end. I have been released from my church calling.

Now that my crying jags have finished (for now) I am piecing together all the amazing things I have gained from this experience. I have learned a lot and grown from the blessings and challenges that have been presented to me through the service I have been blessed to give.  I'm writing them down so I don't forget them.

~Everyone yearns for love and acceptance-whether they show it outwardly or not. Some people let you know that they have a need for attention, but the quiet ones with an air of contentment need the same things the rest of us do.

~Service feels good. Finding the time, energy, and gumption can take everything a person has, but in the end it is all worth it. I have never left a situation where I gave service and regretted it. I'm always grateful I stepped up.

Some of our Young Women doing service on Temple Square

~LOVE GROWS.

~Understanding people, their needs, their circumstances and what makes them tick is a full time job and perceptions get shifted on a continual basis. We NEVER know everything that is going on in a person's life. From the outside things can look like perfection and in reality things are a mess or vice-versa.

Girls Camp

~Time invested is never wasted if you are doing it for the good of others. This is a reality that is not grasped very often in this world anymore. Whether we see the fruits of our labors or not is entirely beside the point. Time spent on others is not wasted time.

After early morning baptisms at Brigham City Temple

~BUT....wondering if you could have done better in your endeavors with others is very haunting. It makes me want to try harder.

~BUT AGAIN, I am leaving this opportunity better than I came into it. I have more love, more friends, more understanding, more empathy, and respect. I am better for it and hope I have made others better in my wake.

~Every person needs light. It is one of my callings in life to give it. I pray for the strength to succeed.

St George Temple 2013 Girls Camp

 ~There are wonderful, glorious, talented, beautiful people in this world. I served them, served with them, and am watching new ones step in to pick up the work. It is a very rewarding thing to realize.

Don't they look like sunshine? Light at it's best!