Our Safeguard and our Guiding Star

I recently read a talk by President James E. Faust entitled The Virtues of Righteous Daughters of God.  (To read it click here).  I like what he had to say about virtue.  He said:

"Many people do not fully understand the meaning of virtue. One commonly understood meaning is to be chaste or morally clean, but virtue in its fuller sense encompasses all traits of righteousness that help us form our character.  An old sampler found in a museum in Newfoundland, stitched in 1813, reads: 'Virtue is the chiefest beauty of the mind, the noblest ornament of humankind. Virtue is our safeguard and our guiding star that stirs up reason when our senses err.'" 

As I read Pres. Faust's definition of virtue, it brought to my mind this scripture in proverbs:

"Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies." (Proverbs 31:10)

I have always loved this scripture and it takes on so much more meaning when considering that virtue encompasses all traits of righteousness.  I like that the following verses go on to tell us what a virtuous woman looks like.  Some of her traits include:
trustworthy
dependable
good
industrious
strong
compassionate
giving
prepared
honorable
wise
kind
not idle
good mother
good wife
worships God
(Proverbs 31:11-31)


In his talk President Faust give us 10 virtues for us to pursue in "our quest for excellence and happiness."  They are:
1 .Faith
2. Honesty
3. Chasity
4.  Humility
5. Self-Discipline
6.  Fairness
7.  Moderation
8.  Cleanliness
9.  Courage
10.  Grace
I thought all of these virtues followed along so well with the verses in proverbs.


President Faust concludes his talk with this beautiful message and promise,

"These are challenging times. I believe your spirits may have been reserved for these latter days; that you, like Esther, have come to earth “for such a time as this.” It may be that your most significant, everlasting achievements will be your righteous influence on others, that your divine feminine inner beauty and intuition will find expression in your quiet strength, gentleness, dignity, charm, graciousness, creativity, sensitivity, radiance, and spirituality. Enhance these sublime feminine gifts. They will make you appealing and even irresistible as you serve others as the handmaidens of God.  I testify that if you practice these virtues, you will be able to “press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men.”

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As a Man Thinketh

I wrote this as a comment to a post about the book The Hunger Games by the Misfitcygnet.  I love reading her blog.  She has given me a lot to think about, and to correct in my life. 

As I have studied and read more over the last couple of years, I have been surprised to see how what I have read has become a part of me, ingrained in my soul, if you will.
The scriptures teach us that “as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” President Kimball in his book The Miracle of Forgiveness says that, “A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.”
It would therefore seem that we should be very careful about the thoughts we put into our mind. We will never do an action that we first did not think about, and no one can possibly become something they are not thinking.
I read an article yesterday of an Ohio teen how strangled his 10 year old brother after reading books about serial killers and watching the tv show Dexter, in which a serial killer is the hero of the show.
Now, I not saying that everyone is going to be a serial killer or commit horrific acts of violence, but the pamphlet For the Strength of Youth contains a statement on media violence that says that depictions of violence offends the Spirit and “makes you less able to respond to others in a sensitive, caring way.”
I know I need all of the help I can get in being a loving and caring wife and mother, as well as sister and friend, and if reading and seeing violence is going to make me less caring, I need to avoid it.
The Doctrine and Covenants says, “Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly.” I think this applies to all we read and watch.

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