Alyssa has been a talk writing fiend lately!
Last week she had to write a talk for Young Women in Excellence on Wednesday and then speak in sacrament meeting on Sunday. She stepped up to the plate and beyond exceeded my expectations. It is so neat when you see your child really get a concept and truly apply it in her life. I am so proud of her growth and maturity. Makes me one happy momma!
Here is her talk from YWIE:
My talk is how our light shines from our choices. In Matthew 5:16 is says, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."
In the song we sang, I am like a star. I am like a star shinging brightly. In outer space there is millions upon millions of stars shining in the universe. But when we look up the ones that stand out are the ones shinging brightly. We can choose to work hard to be the stars that catch the eyes of people.
Shining our light is caused by our choices. Now you may be asking how does our choices have to do with anything with our light shining? Well when we make choices it is like a candle. When we make good choices we are shining with our lights glowing. When we decide to make bad choice it is like someone blowing out our flame and leaving us in darkness.
We should make the best choices and show others because it brings happiness to others. When we are happy it makes others ask why- which gives us an opportunity to be a missionary and that can lead to others being happy in the church and another star to shine bright.
I have had many experiences to shine bright from my choices. Last week I had basketball tryouts, I did very well and so did all of the other girls. I got a chance to talk to my coach. He said that "I worked very hard" and he liked how I play I just need to get better at my shots. He said that I would be on the team as a reserve player, that means I go to the practices and games I just don't play in the games. I was so happy I made the team but on the other hand my friend, also a reserve player, was disappointed. I was texting her and after every negative text she sent me I sent a positive one back. Eventually she started to see what I was doing. Finally she texted, "We are going to get the most out of this season!"
I bare my testimony that I know if we shine our light brightly that it will have an effect on others and that we should make the best choices we can. And that we can be the stars that catch the eyes of many people. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Here is her sacrament meeting talk:
Today my talk is about gratitude and counting our many blessings. All the things that we are grateful for are really blessings in our lives. I D&C 78:19 it says: (read scripture)…
This is saying if we are thankful we will be made glorious and we will be given so much more because of our gratitude. So if we are grateful for what we do have we will be happier! In our house we have a quote on the wall that says,
“We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have , but rather recognizing and appreciating what we DO HAVE..”
We often want what we don’t have, but when we take the time to recognize and appreciate what we do have we are so much happier!
People are usually happier when they have gratitude in their hearts. It is hard to be bitter, resentful, or mean when we are grateful.
I would like to share something from the Strength of Youth booklet. It says, “The Lord wants you to have a spirit of gratitude in all you do and say.” Last week at Young Women in Excellence I shared an example of this- I recently tried out for our school basketball team. My coach said he admired how I played and offered me a spot as a reserve player. A reserve player goes to all of the practices and game, but most likely will not play in the games. I was so happy to be on the team! My friend also got a spot as a reserve player, but she wasn’t happy. On the night we found out she kept texting me how mad she was and frustrated. After each negative text I sent a positive one. It took 3 or 4 texts to finally see what I was doing. Later that night she said I was right and that we will get the most out of our season. I was glad that I showed her how to be grateful even though she wasn’t exactly thankful.
It also says in the Strength of Youth, “Gratitude will turn your heart to the Lord and help you recognize His influence and blessings in your life.” Instead of being upset that I am up early for school I look outside and see the beautiful sunrise and it makes me feel happy that it was worth my time getting up. If we just take take the time to look around us we will see all of the amazing things that God has given to us!
“Another thing is “In your prayers, pour out your heart to your Father in Heaven in thanks for the blessings you have received.” That is why we start out our prayers with things that we are grateful for rather than focusing on what we want or think we need. If we pay more attention to what we have been given we will see how much we have received.
“When you keep Heavenly Father’s commandments and serve others, you show that you love Him and are grateful to Him.” One of my many favorite scripture stories is the ten lepers. When I was little I used to call it “the ten leopards.” Unlike an animal, these men had a disease. In the story in Luke 17: 11-19 it says, (READ SCRIPTURES)…
Jesus helps and heals all 10, but only 1 came back to thank him. Jesus must have felt sad when the other 9 were ungrateful. They didn’t even take the time to come back and say thank you.. It always feels good to be appreciated. Think if you made a thanksgiving feast for your family and only one person thanked you for your hard work. How would you feel? The things on my mind would be that they weren't thankful or that my cooking wasn’t good. We need to be grateful for someones hard work. It makes the person feel like they have done a great job and are very appreciated.
I love President Monson! He always gives such great talks. In his talk, The Divine gift of Gratitude he says,
“My brothers and sisters, to express gratitude is gracious and honorable, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live with gratitude ever in our hearts is to touch heaven.”
God wants us to be happy. I think that it is important to be grateful be grateful because it brings us closer to heaven.
I bare my testimony that if we are grateful and we count our blessings and focus on all that we have we will be happier. I know this church is true and the temple is the house of God.. I hope that we all can live with gratitude in our hearts every day and become closer to heaven.
I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
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