Develop, Share, Give

Go figure - my time and brain power towards writing has been more limited the past few months.  I hate not parking myself for this, especially when there's something I really want to get down, but I don't want to click "publish" when I don't have enough time to polish.  (I especially don't want anyone walking away from their computer stupider than when they sat down.)

While stewing on this problem, I realized that I'm still thinking and gathering thoughts, but they are being delivered in a different format.  Yet it wouldn't take much more effort to bring those things to this format.  So that's what I'm going to do.

A few months ago I led a discussion on a quote I heard in December:

"Develop yourself, share yourself, then give yourself to something bigger than yourself."

Since I wanted to learn as much I could from the discussion and the great women participating in the discussion, knowing I wouldn't remember a lot after sitting down, I asked my counselor to take notes for me. For each part of that quote we discussed a scripture that goes along with it, then talked about how we could do that.

Develop Yourself - Matt. 25:14-19, 22-25.  How can we develop ourselves?  Try new things, education, strengthen weaknesses, temple attendance, develop talents, pray, read the scriptures, church magazines, accept new callings, set goals, learn from others, stretch and grow.

Share Yourself - Matt. 5:14-16.  How can we share ourselves?  Teach others, service, callings, smile, visiting teaching, give and show love, be a friend, volunteer (don't wait to be asked), make time for others, be receptive to the Holy Ghost, give your heart, speak your mind, visit and get to know each other.

Give Yourself to Something Bigger Than Yourself - Matt. 16:25.  What can we give ourselves to?  Callings, community, schools, family, marriage, serving a mission, family history, temple work, sharing testimony.  Ultimately, to the Lord.

As we talked about each of these it was brought up that going through this leads to self-reliance.  It's a cycle - sometimes we need to work on developing, other times we can give of ourselves more, but we should remember that when we are asked to give ourselves to the Lord, He will qualify us and help us be what we need to be.  We need to counsel with the Lord on how, when, where we can/should share and give ourselves, and remember that we are all individual with unique gifts and talents.

The responsibilities of the Relief Society as individuals and as a group are to (1) increase faith and personal righteousness, (2) strengthen families and homes, and (3) help those in need - each of which fits very well with developing, sharing, and giving ourselves.  When we follow these, we will strengthen ourselves, our families, our ward, and everyone around us.

Any other thoughts?

My thoughts on 12/17/2012 - I wish I would have asked them HOW them personally doing those things has helped them to develop, share, and give.  It's one thing to say you should read the scriptures, and deeper learning and application to say how it's actually been beneficial.