This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Young Women's Session of the April 2009 Conference.
I thought it was interesting to read Sister Mary N. Cook's 2009 talk on virtue right after studying President Nelson's most recent conference talk on virtue. The Young Women's program had a big emphasis on virtue during these years (I remember when they added virtue as one of the Young Women Values) so it was a frequent theme. I don't think I had quite been called as YW President yet in 2009, but the emphasis was still there whenever I was called, soon after this, I think. I'm sure President Nelson was even involved with some of the discussions and the adding of the new value, etc., and for all I know this General Young Women Presidency influenced his thinking on the subject!
Sister Cook says,
Why is our being virtuous so important not just to our earthly parents but to our Heavenly Father as well? Virtue brings peace, strength of character, and happiness in this life. Our Heavenly Father knew that we would be faced with many choices and challenges, and virtuous living would prepare us to succeed.
So we definitely need virtue, no doubt about that! But what does it really mean? I have been trying to study the word and concept of virtue since President Nelson's talk, and in all my study I've not really found much difference between the idea of "virtue" and the idea of just "being good." It seems like for most applications, they are synonymous. Virtue does have the specific connotation of sexual purity, and Sister Dalton emphasized this in her talk: "The core of a virtuous life is sexual purity, and yet this definition has almost been erased by the world. The prophet Mormon taught that chastity and virtue are “most dear and precious above all things” (Moroni 9:9). They go together." But as I read through President Nelson's talk, it seemed like replacing the word "virtue" with "righteousness" or "goodness" would really do just as well.
I won't go into all my thoughts about this subject because I'm still figuring out what they are😁, but there is one theme that has been really prevalent in all the reading I've done, and that is the connection between virtue and power. Sister Cook quoted the Personal Progress manual (I miss Personal Progress!) which said:
Determine to partake worthily of the sacrament each week and fill your life with virtuous activities that will bring spiritual power. As you do this, you will grow stronger in your ability to resist temptation, keep the commandments [remain clean], and become more like Jesus Christ.
I also really liked her idea of forming "patterns of virtue" (reminds me of President Nelson's "spiritual momentum") in this encouraging quote:
Just as the Salt Lake Temple took 40 years to build, stone by stone, you are building a virtuous life, step by step. You have made covenants to be obedient. You have made some good choices. The patterns of virtue you develop now will help you to continually hold fast to the iron rod.
Whether virtue is just "being good" or something more than that, I want to gain the spiritual power that living virtuously will allow. I want my children to gain that power as well! Something another speaker, Sister Ann M. Dibb, said in this session was very hopeful along those lines:
Thinking back to when I was a young woman, I recognize that I did not understand the magnitude of what was happening in my life. I did not realize that my participation in each and every Church activity was helping me develop a lifelong pattern and commitment to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. I didn’t understand that I was being prepared for my future life as an individual, a wife, a mother, and a leader. I didn’t understand that as I tried to choose the right, I was honoring my baptismal covenants, exercising faith, increasing my virtue, and preparing to go to the temple. I couldn’t see all of this then, but in very small, incremental steps, I was becoming a believer—and “an example of the believers.”
I know the same thing has happened to me as I've walked step by step along the covenant path, so I have to be optimistic that my children will learn to desire and qualify for those same blessings, by seeking after virtue as best they can at every stage of their lives!
Other posts in this series:
Virtue—by Rozy
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