Choose happiness!

Been somewhat of a bad blogger. . . got lots of things I've been going to post, just haven't gotten around to it yet. But tonight I decided to tackle one of them. . . .even took a bad picture to support the post and so as to not procrastinate, I am going with it instead of waiting for better lighting.

Ever since Women's Conference, I have carried a For the Strength of Youth mini pamphlet in my back pocket. And when I've had a chance, I've pulled it out and tried to memorize it. The General YW presidency says that it needs to be 'in us'. And one way to do that is to memorize it. One of my favorite lines from it is the very first one (and it is our quote this month on our 'white board'):
Isn't that a powerful statement? It gives us so much power. . . the power to be happy even when everything around is (or isn't) going awry. And how do we choose happiness? By choosing righteousness! So simple. One thing I've loved about this statement is that it goes a long way as a mom when things aren't going quite right for the kids. A simple reminder (that they know I'm quoting!) helps them at least reflect on their opportunity to choose happiness even if it doesn't change their behavior right away. But more than for better mothering skills, it truly helps me stay up. I, too, can choose righteousness and happiness.

And just a few other notes from the General YW presidency from that talk:

We really should look at the pamplet as "For the Strenght of YOU". And who doesn't need or want to be strong? If we live by the standards in that book, we are strong.

They also pointed out the similar size of the pocket version to a temple recommend. They said that if we are keeping the standards in the FSTY, we are worthy for a recommend. I think that is a fantastic point from all of us.

One other wonderful point they made was that we must never under estimate the hunger for righteousness and spiritual capacity of our youth.

If you want to hear the whole talk, you can find it here. I fell in love with Sister Dibb--she is so cute and smiled the entire time. (For any of you who didn't know, she is President Monson's daughter.)