Personal Progress: a fitting title

When I see young men earn their Eagle Scout or Duty to God, I sometimes wonder what's going through their head. I know it sounds stalkerish but, I guess since they're usually my peers I just find the topic interesting.

Anyway, I've never really been able to find out, but recently my friends and I earned our Personal Progress medallion and I'm sure it can't be much different.

The first, of course, was accomplishment. I felt I'd done something worthwhile. Something that had changed me for the better and brought me closer to my Savior. Something that had led me to bring others there as well. Dozens of instances came to mind from teaching a silly dance to a bunch of little girls to crying over a scripture that answered multiple prayers.

Next was love. I love my ward family. And they don't call it a ward family for nothing. As my two friends and I, (announced as the 'Three Nephets by my bishop) stood up there, I saw an ocean of smiling faces. It was as if they had all raised me and were reaping the fruits of their labors. And, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that they had. They were. 

Then, of course, utter excitement. You know when you feel so utterly happy you could just laugh at everything? Even the corniest joke on a Laffy-Taffy wrapper? Yeah, that's about what it felt like. Us three just kept grinning at each other and then grinning at the congregation and grinning at our bishop and then grinning at each other.  

Two tangible rewards come from this. A pretty little necklace and a small statuette of a beautiful young woman. Both of these, I think will forever be prized posessions of mine. I'll take them to college. I'll take them into whatever house I end up living in. I'll take them everywhere! Because both taught me something that day. Something I never want to forget.

My father came up to put my medallion on, as the tradition went and I'll never forget my mother's soft whisper as he his calloused fingers struggled with the tiny clasp.

 "Do you want me do it?"

"No," he whispered back, "I got this."

I giggled, of course, but I was also filled with appreciation. How I loved these two special people!!! I've alreay described how much I know there couldn't be any better parents out there for me. And I realized that as I wore this symbol of a virtuous young woman, in my case it would also be a tribute to the two earthly angels behind her. Telling her to pull it together when she stresses to much and yet holding her when she cries. Telling her the sky's the limit and providing the opportunities to get there. I could go on and on, but I guess my point is that I honestly think there are two ways to react to an accomplishment. You can become focused on the cold awards of recognition stamped with your name just as cold with arrogance, or you can become overwhelmed with gratitude and as humble as those who helped you. I never really realized until then what humility was. It's not being down on yourself, it's the opposite of arrogance. Remembering that you're not the only one around.

The next item was the little statue thing. It really wasn't until I sat back down and I was looking at it that the lesson came. I was kind of wondering why they gave us a statue of just a plain young woman. Yeah, it fit the name of the Young Women's program head-on, but...why bother? We saw a young woman in the mirror every morning.

And then it came. This young woman, though simple, was beautiful. Not because they gave her some super-model face or desighner hair-do, but because she was pure. he whole thing was white, signifying that. It slowly began to dawn on me that this statue was not only supposed portray a girl between the ages of 13-18, it was to portray a girl living the gospel. She looked peaceful, clean, happy, loving. The type of person I guess you'd be if you finished you're personal progress.

It was almost like a self-portrait! Of course, I wasn't always peaceful, clean, happy, or loving, but it was a reminder that I could be.

And that, folks, is the gospel of Jesus Christ. One of silly dances and heart-touching scriptures. One of accomplishment, love, and excitement. One of humility, of friends and family, of ever reaching to that which is better. It's not always an easy pathway through life, but if you take it you'll find it's the easiest. Why? Well because you have the compaionship of the one who made the path in the first place.