Individual Worth

Running into and meeting old friends once more is usually a joyous occasion, and for me it is. I am grateful for the many people who have taken some sort of part in my life. They have changed me, helped me to become the person I am, and they have helped strengthen my testimony.

Now as a young adult, the second or third question I'm asked when seeing old friends is, "So are you dating someone right now? Are you engaged yet?" I am going to be frank right now and say that if I was, you'd probably know. It always makes me laugh when people ask that. I am grateful for friends and family who want the best for me. One phrase that is harder for me to appreciate is, "Maddie, someday, you'll get married to some amazing guy." That statement isn't rude or offensive, but there are times it makes me feel that my accomplishments don't matter that much, because I am not married yet, and I don't have a husband or a little home to take care of. 

Someday I will get married, but it will be on the Lord's timing. He has a wondrous plan for me, and I have many tasks to accomplish and responsibilities to fill in this life. I am reminded of a line in my patriarchal blessing which reads, "Heavenly Father has a time table of things that will happen when they will do you the most good and bring you the most joy in your life." I know that as I live righteously and become spiritually minded, having an eternal perspective, Heavenly Father will not withhold any blessings from me. Although I would like to be dating right now, I believe that those opportunities will come. I also believe that this time of being a single daughter of God allows me time to grow, become, and develop in preparation for my roles as a wife and mother. Even while I am discouraged sometimes, I know that with faith in my Father, I cannot go wrong. "Remember that his paths are righteous. Behold, the way for man is narrow, but it lieth in a straight course before him, and the keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel[...]" (2 Nephi 9:41).

How grateful I am for the peace that the Gospel of Jesus Christ brings to my life. Because of my knowledge of truth which comes from prayer and scripture study, as well as partaking of the sacrament and acting on faith and the desires of my heart, I need not fear or worry about my future. He knows me, and He loves me just how I am. Heavenly Father knows of my accomplishments, and He knows that they will help me to be a better woman, a more patient woman, an understanding woman. 

The moral force of righteous women in any standing is emphasized as D. Todd Christofferson taught, "Women bring with them into the world a virtue, a divine gift that makes them adept at instilling such qualities as faith, courage, empathy, and refinement in relationships and in cultures" (29). I am a woman, a single woman, but being single does not mean that I do not influence those around me. Heavenly Father rejoices in my desire to be a wife and mother, so He provides me with endless opportunities to let my divine nature show. 

Individual worth is not merely based upon physical beauty, dateability, or popularity, but on the heart. Do I have the Lord's countenance in my face? Am I happily living and keeping the covenants I have made? Do I love others and help them to see their own worth as a child of God? Am I striving to progress each day? That is what individual worth is all about. That's what this life on Earth is all about no matter the status of an individual: helping everyone to come to a knowledge of truth, goodness, and to feel the love of God.

Happy Wednesday!