When is a theme more than a theme?
Tonight was our Ward's New Beginnings program and I thought they delivered a theme, a program, a thought that tied the young women together in a good way.. They did the traditional elements of: class purposes of each class; introduction of the new Beehives; an Overview of the Personal Progress Program. From there it took on an aire of its own.
Four vignettes of girls dealing with the challenges of every day life and how they are better, or more easily dealt with when: We are in all in this together. They were kind of cheesy, kinda of cute, and on target. We have frequently and consistently encouraged our boys to participate, attend, support, go and do a particular activity that might not have been the top of their list of interest but one which we felt they needed to be involved in because of Quorum. That the sense of Quorum provides strength and courage and support and ability to cope with the world that surrounds us. Tonight's presentation was the best non-quorum quorum presentation I can recall.
The YW president reviewed the YW's theme:
We are daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves us, and we love Him.
We will "stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things,
and in all places" (Mosiah 18:9) as we strive to live
the Young Women values, which are:
Faith
Divine Nature
Individual Worth
Knowledge
Choice and Accountability
Good Works
Integrity and
Virtue.
We believe as we come to accept and act upon these values,
we will be prepared to strengthen home and family, make and keep sacred covenants,
receive the ordinances of the temple, and enjoy the blessings of exaltation.
The theme could be written in the first person but it isn't.
It could be focused on the me but it isn't it is the we.
The theme is built around the unity of the Young Women
The discussion was further strengthen by looking at the Mutual Theme for the year:
"We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men. Indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul: we believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things."(Article of Faith 13)
Count the "WE" that appear in these two statements. We succeed, we believe, we thrive together not as silos not as individuals but collectively. Now that is all well and good but it has to be done with a level of fun. So that was added into the evening with the YW advisers doing a dance number from High School Musical.They turned on the music, got up front of the group and 'cut the rung'. It was funny, it was entertaining, it helped connect to the girls.
Even the words of the song relate to the theme of the night
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Everyone is special in their own way
We make each other strong (we make each other strong)
Were not the same
Were different in a good way
Together's where we belong
We're all in this together
Once we know
That we are
We're all stars
And we see that
We're all in this together
And it shows
When we stand
Hand in hand
Make our dreams come true
Together, together, together everyone
Together, together, come on lets have some fun
Together, were there for each other every time
Together together come on lets do this right
Ok, maybe using a song from a Disney Movie is a stretch for you but it worked for me.I appreciated the evening.
