Remembering Virtue- A Personal Progress Experience

As a young woman I did all that was required to receive my Young Women Medallion.  Looking back, I noticed that many of the experiences I chose were great, but maybe too simple and thoughtless on my part. Some were things I had already been doing like- “with one or more friends or family members, learn to sing a song that you enjoy and that has a message about faith in God…  Arrange to sing the song in a gathering…” this was something we did many times a year as a YW group, so it didn’t take much effort on my part.  Another one I did was- “For two weeks choose to control your temper and be accountable for your attitude.  When you are tempted to give way to anger or a bad attitude, determine to be in control and change your emotions.”  As much of a brat that I could be as a teenager, I’ve always been a pretty easy going person and fairly even tempered.  The way I passed this off was to hang out in my room by myself, staying away from people and anything that might make me angry.  I think it totally defeated the purpose of what this value experience was trying to teach me.

There were also many experiences that were very simple and didn’t require much thought- “Using your talents and skills, make a gift for a family member.” I often made things for my family, that’s just something I did… and still do! Another one was- “Earn some money and donate it to your ward mission fund.” Easy peasy, I babysat all the time.  I probably only donated $1-2 just to check it off the list.

The book was full of really good things to help build character and work on good personal skills .  I am so grateful for the YW program and Personal Progress.  I believe it helped to shape me into who I am today. Much has changed since my time in YW though.  Today it is required to do more studying and deep thought for each value experience. You could almost combine 3 of the old ones to make one of the new ones.  I believe this new way is critical for this generation to help each girl become converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ and to really think about who they are and why they’re here.

Young Men general president (at the time) David L. Beck, said, “The Lord’s standards have not changed, but the adversary’s attacks against those standards have increased in frequency and intensity… As President Thomas S. Monson has reminded us, today’s youth are growing up in a time when the gap between the Lord’s standards and the world’s standards is widening. Temptations are becoming stronger, and sinful behavior is becoming more socially acceptable. “  He said this about the change of the Strength For Youth pamphlet almost 4 years ago.  Think of how things have changed since then.

I enjoy working with my daughter as she works toward her medallion.  Recently she was working on the Virtue Experience #3:

“Prepare to be worthy to enter the temple and to participate in temple ordinances.  Read Alma chapter 5.  Make a list of questions Alma asks.  Answer the questions for yourself, and make a list of the things you can and will do to prepare yourself to be pure and worthy to enter the temple and receive all the blessings our Heavenly Father has promised His beloved daughters.”

As I was reading this requirement I desired for my daughter to be reminded of the qualities she is working to have in order to always be worthy to go to the temple.  When she was done with the experience I asked her for the list she had made. Then I went to Pic monkey (an online image editor that makes this subway art easy to do) and created this to put in her room. You are welcome to print a copy of mine by clicking  here (you do not have to sign up to you dropbox. If it asks, just click no thanks and you can still print it), but even better, make your own.

This can also be done at a mutual activity, just have each girl bring a laptop or iPad on which they can go to Pic Monkey and create their own.  Read the scriptures as a group and discuss the questions Alma asks. Have them answer the questions and make their list of things they will do to be worthy to enter the temple.  After the girls have made their list, go to https://www.picmonkey.com.

Hold your cursor over the DESIGN menu until a drop down menu shows and click on BLANK CANVAS. Once the templates open, choose the size you want, I did 8×10 because that’s the size of the frame I wanted to use.

This screen is what you will see next.  I did mine vertical, if you want to change the orientation to horizontal you can do that by selecting ROTATE on the left hand side.

Otherwise all you need to do is click on TEXT then AD TEXT and type each word in its own text box, choosing different fonts for each word or set of words.  You can change the color of the text as well, and make them bigger or smaller as you desire.  I also turned some sideways or typed them vertically.  You can also add a picture,like the arrows I chose, by clicking on the butterfly on the left side.  It will bring up all kinds of overlays you can use.

I painted an old frame I had in my stash and framed it to make it a little more fancy.

If you choose to create your own I promise that it will be very thought provoking as you type each word to put into your picture, the spirit will speak to you of ways to live a virtuous life.  If you choose not to make your own, but print mine off instead, it will still be a great reminder of ways you can live your life in accordance with our Heavenly Father.

SEE THE HAPPY!

Related posts:

BeYOUtiful-A message shared with Young Women Light The World 2017/ Family Advent 2 Easter Family Home Evening Ideas For All Ages Surviving Junior High- A Personal Progress Project Idea