I Wish You Were There!

I attended a really nice stake Relief Society meeting where we were served dinner and then there were some short talks. The theme was “Honoring the Importance of Women” and it was very inspirational. In his talk, the counselor in the stake president spoke of three wonderful attributes of most women:

1) The ability to be perceptive of other’s needs
2) The ability to nurture
3) Willingness to give & serve

Yeah, we are pretty great that way (when we wanna be)! He also read this quote from the First Presidency when Heber J. Grant was the prophet:

“The true spirit of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gives to woman the highest place of honor in human life. To maintain and to merit this high dignity she must possess those virtues which have always, and which will ever, demand the respect and love of mankind … [because] ‘a beautiful and chaste woman is the perfect workmanship of God.’(Georg Hermes)” Improvement Era, May 1935, 276.

Following the talks, Pam S. Musil, an Associate Professor of Contemporary Dance introduced DancEnsemble and the dance that they performed for us. In her introduction, she talked about how the dance “Women’s Voices” came to be. She said that she had been feeling like she was invisible in her home, at work and even around other women. She always compared herself to others and made herself feel inferior. (What woman doesn’t??) So she worked collaboratively with dancers in the group to show that women do have a voice. This work “Women’s Voices” has dancers dancing, but also speaking lines.

I searched the internet for it or any info on it so I could share it with you here, but I couldn’t find anything. That’s too bad because it was excellent. As I was watching the dance, I looked around at the other ladies watching and saw many with tears in their eyes. This dance had a message which was universal to women. I wish you could see it. The part that stuck with me the most was the line, “My body is a gift. It is beautifully flawed.” Then another dancer re-iterated, “My body is beautifully flawed.” Honestly, who thinks that??? I wish I did, but I don’t. I don’t see anything beautiful in my flaws. But why not? As Pam mentioned in her intro, the messages from society teach us at a very young age what is beautiful with images of too-skinny, airbrushed YOUNG ladies.

Society gives us messages which are the opposite of what Heavenly Father wants us to feel about ourselves, where our worth comes from and what our purpose is in this life. Instead of being influenced by it (and I admit that I unfortunately definitely am), let’s influence others the right way. Let’s make it a goal this week to help others feel beautiful and so not invisible!

"We are sleeping giants and it is time to wake up and unleash the influence of covenant keeping women! We have far more influence on those around us than we think! We are here to influence the world, not to be influenced by it." Sheri Dew, BYU Women’s Conference, May 2008