Backpacking Through Life

This blog is going to be a little 'stream of consciousness' but I wanted to write it before I forgot :)

I just got back from an incredible hike to Dunanda Falls in Yellowstone National Park. It's amazing. However, during said adventure, I was close to miserable. I am not entirely sure why, but my knees decided that they no longer wanted to cooperate. So, I limped along - trying my hardest to be a good sport and not slow the group down too much.

I learned a lot on this trip. I want to now share what I 'remembered' on the way back.

We were in the middle of no-where. I was in incredible pain. The path was long and though not hard in terms of hiking per se, being hurt, made it hard.

In life, we cannot go back. We can't just stop either. We can take other paths and get lost, temporarily or permanently (this may have happened trying to get to the bridge shown below). We must keep moving forward.

In this mortal life, we are metaphorically in the middle of our backpacking trek. We have found the beautiful land and learned a lot along the way. Now, we must keep going now that we are here, to reach the Heaven, one step - one choice - at a time.

We need to let go of the things holding us back, and when our packs get to heavy for our knees we can turn them over to our Savior who can help us carry on and finish the course. We'll make it one step at a time. Keep the faith and keep moving forward.

Pride and Humility

Today’s post is on the different faces of pride and how humility shapes us to allow God to mold us into who we truly can become.

I fully believe that one of life’s greatest recurring themes is the need to learn how to balance anything and everything, finding the truth in what we’ve been given to deal with.

So today, in my church meetings, we discussed having a broken heart and a contrite spirit, which basically means humility. With this, the discussion of pride came up. I wanted to give my take on what pride truly is.
There are different types of pride in the balance of life. It is not thinking that you are better than everyone. Pride is the sin of humanity, so it can’t be simply that. If I were to try to simplify it, I would say it is holding your opinion, whatever it is, above God’s truth.

In my head, I see pride on more of a spectrum with humility balanced in the center.

What then are on the sides? On one side, is the traditional view of pride—the narcissistic self-loving, or just in general a preoccupation with one’s greatness. However, as I am seeing more and more in our day, is the side that feels worthless that feels despair, self-loathing, perhaps.

Humility, as we know, is not just talking/thinking badly of yourself. Going back to my definition, it is accepting truth of who you are, recognizing God’s “opinion” (truth), and moving forward.

So, say you are greatly afflicted with pride, of thinking that you are not capable, that you are not strong enough, that you are not whatever, and you have the hope to change anyway. Please remember this verse: Isaiah 28:10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little.

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept of letting the Lord shape us. It takes great humility to fully change and become as He would have us be. I want to develop this thought more, so please send in any comments or feedback, and know that this post is going to be continued as I think about it.

We want to be a perfect statue, detailed and strong, of eternal strength and character.

Yet: We may only be here:

Let the Lord shape you here a little, there a little, and day by day you will find that you’re becoming as He is.
Remember, the potential is already inside you—it just requires a Master’s hand and your agency (since we are not simply rocks…).

Trials may hurt—it is hard to have who you think you are (the marble slab), chipped away. But remember, you are in the best care, watched over, and molded into perfection, to become even as He is. It just takes a little humility, patience, and trust.

Guilt: Your Responses

I recently asked for your responses to make a post on guilt. You guys were amazing! Here’s what you said:

I'm personally trying to define guilt before separating it into two kinds. To me Guilt is a gap between where you're 'at' versus where you should be and want to be. You can only have this gap if you're aware of where you should be and could have been there and wanted to be.

I think a little guilt helps to hold society together, but I think your focus on guilt probably makes life more miserable.

Sorrow and guilt are not the same things.  We can and will and should feel sorrow for things, even after we've repented and moved on.  But we shouldn't feel guilt after we repent. Like Enos said, "my guilt was swept away"

Guilt from the Spirit makes you want to be better and motivates you to work on it. Guilt from the devil makes you want to give up because you are hopeless and worthless. The hard part is holding on to that motivating guilt and not letting it become “unbalanced” and ever so slightly switch into devilish guilt.

God-given guilt points us in the direction of repentance and improving our lives so that we can have a positive influence outside of ourselves. Satan-driven guilt is self-centered and usually destructive. It could all be summarized by the "fruit" of the guilt—does it lead to good, positive results or destructive feelings?

I think guilt is a terrible motivator. Guilt very rarely entices me to act, it actually tends to impede my ability to act--and that, for me, is the ultimate test of whether the guilt I'm feeling is Godly or not. If I can say, "I feel TERRIBLE about this, and I really feel that I need to do x y or z to make it better"--then it's Godly. On the other hand, if I am just feeling guilty, and guilty, and guilty, and I don't know what to do about it, and I can't think of anything I CAN do about it, and it's impeding my ability to serve, then I know it's time simply to let go.

Personally I don't refer to good motivation as guilt, but it can be the same feeling. As simple as this sounds, I've seen the largest part of guilt problems I've run into, due to the concept of 'possibility'. For example, a father continually telling his son to practice football eight hours a day so he can be in the NFL, every person cannot reach every possible target and if you demand so much without them choosing the goal themselves, it's likely to fail. However, if you're talking to a child four or five years old... let them dream and reach forward to see what they like and are good at.  Someone trying to 'guilt' you into something will be distracting you from those (or adding so much to do, that you fail at the others). Choose your goals, prioritize, and achieve. Then choose more, and repeat.

A speaker I really like said: "There is only one variable that separates the people who have a strong sense of love and belonging and the people [who feel a sense of debilitating shame]: they had the courage to be imperfect. They had the compassion to be kind to themselves first and then to others, because, as it turns out, we can't practice compassion with other people if we can't treat ourselves kindly. And the last was they had connection and --this was the hard part--as a result of authenticity, they were willing to let go of who they thought they should be in order to be who they were."

http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.html

Three things have worked for me when I am trying to let go of the negative. I find that shame likes to sneak its way in to every crack and crevice of my life, till I can't tell, exactly, WHAT it is that I'm even feeling guilty about. I'm never good enough, kind enough, doing enough. But I am learning to be kind to myself. Here are the three things:

- Learning to laugh at myself

-Waking up every morning and telling myself three things I like about myself

-Doing things I'm not good at. My current project is learning to ride the unicycle. I'm terrible at it. But it's fun.

When we repent, we are trying to change ourselves, and not change things that have already happened.  So if we get hung up on things that are in the past, that's bad.  For myself, I know I have to focus on doing what's right in each moment that I'm living in.  I've done enough things wrong that it would be easy to never forgive myself. Just do your best, don't worry about it.  We'll feel guilt and sorrow when we do wrong, but I don't think we should focus on the guilt, I think we should focus on doing our best, and if we do that the Lord will help us feel bad when we need to and the enemy won't have power over us. It is super important to have faith, hope, and charity, focused on Christ and His Atonement.  This knowledge works to become a force in us, a power and ability to overcome challenges. 

Guilt is a terrible, terrible motivator. It is a WONDERFUL -indicator- but a terrible motivator. What I mean by that--it's kind of like when you have a nauseous stomach. That lets you know that something is wrong. Guilt can be an indicator that you need to repent, or it might be an indicator that you need to start treating yourself differently. Which it is you'll have to diagnose yourself, but if you are feeling guilt it is DEFINITELY an indicator that something is wrong. But if you spend your life letting guilt (or avoiding guilt) be your MOTIVATOR you're going to be unhappy.

Life is about a process of change. Receiving the Holy Ghost also takes time and consistent effort, and with His help, we can let go of any guilt that is holding us back from progressing. We can become like God and we can find joy today.

Thanks for all your responses! I really enjoyed putting it together so I will be doing more posts like this in the future.

Explosions of Wisdom

I teach a ballroom class for some friends, it's very casual and fun, just for my peers. So, I was talking to some of them yesterday when I made a sarcastic comment about how I needed to go impart my "infinite wisdom" to some "students" or else I would explode with all the wisdom.

Like this, only not a "Time Lord" from Dr. Who with time energy flowing from my fingers, but pure wisdom in its place.

They mentioned how cool, though tragic, it would be, if I were to explode and then infinite wisdom would flow.

The thing is, we do have a source of infinite wisdom, of infinite love, and infinite power to help us overcome all things.

All we have to do is to ask for help and have the faith to move forward. We keep asking and adjusting and we keep moving forward. Things will always try and hold us back, but we can move forward through the Savior.

And if you're wondering, the guilt post is coming along, but I need more responses! :)

Guilty as Charged?

After my last post on lies, I got a lot of feedback/responses, I decided I wanted my blog to be more interactive.

For those of you who know me, you know I am often motivated by guilt. I know there are different types of guilt worth exploring, so what do you guys think about it?

Briefly, though there is more to come, the way I see it is that there are two basic types of guilt: Guilt brought on by the devil that you need to learn how to let go, and the guilt brought about by the Spirit guiding you to change, to remember, and to become better.

How do you know which is which? And how have you found the ability to let go of the negative and learn from the positive?

Please email me at my "professional" email:

and in the next couple of days, I'll combine your responses and my ideas, so we can all learn together.

Lies: A Reaction

I received this as a reply to my post, and felt it should be shared. It captures a lot of aspects that I was hoping to get to, but didn't in my last post. And, the added perspective of another person always adds value, depth, and meaning, so I wanted to share it here.


You said: "Lately I've been thinking a lot about why lying is a big deal. I know we talk about it a lot, but I haven't really thought about it that much until recently."

If you are lied to, and you know it... the pain and loss are focused on the destruction of trust, and the loss of connection with that person. Forgiving that person is really hard. For me, the first key in forgiving someone at all... is that I must want too (which is sometimes a difficult issue for me). I find that it is easier to start when on my knees, praying (it's just not possible to tell God it's too hard for you or you don't want to, when he's there, knowing your mistakes). However at some point you have to talk with the person or your attempt will only appease your pain a little. But one of the second or third keys I think about, when I feel someone has lied to me is grasping onto the idea that they didn't want to hurt me, or they wanted to impress me, they wanted to seem better than they are. I look at those and try to determine what their intent was, and try to determine what they were thinking. Then there's the idea that lying hurts the person doing it the most. But somewhere along the way is the concept of me labeling them a 'liar' and my mind doesn't let me apply that label as easily as my emotion.

So many times two or more people just don't see the same 'truth' when they stare at the same thing. I try to define 'lying' as deliberate miscommunication attempting for personal gain. If you haven't felt lied to, and later found out it was miscommunication... I'd be surprised. When you care about a person and feel betrayed or wronged the issue is often fueled by miscommunication and you want to lash out. I think the fear of being hurt makes people quickly grasp onto negative assumptions as kind of a self-preservation thing. If instead they tried to fix the problem, they'd both be better off. But back to the subject... Lying is worse, than miscommunication... and both seem to be promoted in the world we live in now.

The next couple of lines were a little confusing to me: hypocrisy and disappointment are very different concepts and not always connected to lying. You said:
"So, hypocrisy, the unintentional hurt, and disappointment from people not living up to the idea we have of them is hard to deal with. Yet, this is easier to forgive because "they didn't mean to."  and "Hypocrites usually don't mean to be hypocritical...."
Is the person that lied to you, telling you not to lie? The reason this is distinguishable from lying is that in this case telling you not to lie would be a good thing, or if they said lying is bad... that would be the truth.  To be a hypocrite, a person has to tell you 'doing X is bad!' (and then do it themselves); the concept of being disappointed, is quite different. There's also the concept of a person telling others to be good, and being human makes a mistake -- are they a hypocrite?
{note from Cristina: I'm actually impressed only one line was confusing. That section is not complete. I've been trying to cut down the length of my posts, and can't seem to find a good balance to explain everything - concisely}

I like your next line -- I wish I had the strength to follow it in some cases: "... we need to get to a point where we don't take offense; even if it is intentional."

And also the paragraph about God is really strong too. I've mentioned this to you before, but you don't, and can't always know the truth. Each person chooses what they perceive as right, often based on who they trust when they can't know the actual truth. Imagine the dilemma you'd have if two loved ones, both of whom you trust... tell you to vote for different people in one election and you haven't had time to find out for yourself. Do you pick one, and call the other one a liar? and never trust them again? (of course not) So what would make you do that?

Boy I latched onto the next line really fast :(
"Unfortunately, we live in a world where all people struggle, all people are going to disappoint us, try to cover up the hard truths with white lies, or are just scared of losing us, so they tell us what they think we want to hear, or what is easier for them to admit to. Come on, we've all been there."
There's a lot of pain in those words... and I don't like thinking of you in that much pain. And it's certainly worse when I make myself the culprit. {Another note: There isn't a set culprit, I tried to write it just from what I've noticed, and ya I used my life as a foundation, but I tried to put it in terms of truth, so everyone, please don't get all worried that I'm offended or hurt by you. If I was, you would know. I'm usually pretty vocal in that area...or at least very clear in my actions...}


"So, why is it so hard on the other side? " Because you care, or have cared... and attached part of who you are to this connection and it was ripped apart by the lie because you can't trust them like you want too.

And I'll end by saying if you want to fix a problem between you and this liar, hypocrite, villain you're going to need to tell them how you feel. They have to listen with all their heart and not retaliate, they must respond with honesty with the goal of fixing the rift between you, and you have to listen to them. It takes effort on both people's parts and it's hard because of the pain and lack of trust. If one of you chooses not to, no amount of effort on the other side will compensate.

Lies: Nothing but the Truth

Lately I've been thinking a lot about why lying is a big deal. I know we talk about it a lot, but I haven't really thought about it that much until recently.

This post will hopefully help us understand about lying, and find the compassion we need to forgive. We've all made mistakes and need to learn to let things go, but it takes a long time to get over the hurt. It also ties into hypocrisy, and intention. 

So, hypocrisy, the unintentional hurt, and disappointment from people not living up to the idea we have of them is hard to deal with. Yet, this is easier to forgive because "they didn't mean to." 

Hypocrites usually don't mean to be hypocritical. 

They've just justified their behavior to themselves, and don't feel like that label applies to them. 

What I'm trying to say, is that we need to get to a point where we don't take offense; even if it is intentional. Should it matter if it is a long series of intentional "offenses"? I submit that though it is much harder, it isn't something we should have to hold on to. Yes, this makes me a hypocrite because I've taken offense at someone when it was intentional, and of course when it was unintentional. I'm still a work in progress. It doesn't make the truth is any less true.

God doesn't lie. We are able to trust Him, something that is so vital to our progression, because we know He doesn't lie.Therefore, if I understand why lying is so awful and hurts so much, and change my perception and behavior, then I can be more like Him, I can be a better person, and I don't have to hurt those around me, and theoretically can forgive those who hurt me.

It's a tall order.

And I'm short {haha....but really}.We all fall short, when we're working alone.

Unfortunately, we live in a world where all people struggle, all people are going to disappoint us, try to cover up the hard truths with white lies, or are just scared of losing us, so they tell us what they think we want to hear, or what is easier for them to admit to. Come on, we've all been there.

So, why is it so hard on the other side? When you're the one that sees someone struggle, when you are the person your friend doesn't want to disappoint, is scared of losing, and can't admit their shortcomings to, it really hurts. Look - I have felt the hurt, and I don't have a perfect answer that allows you to heal yourself.

"You have your agency, and inspiration [or healing/progression] does not--perhaps cannot--flow unless you ask for it....No message in scripture is repeated more often than the invitation, even the command, to pray--to ask." President Boyd K. Packer

Lying hurts, it hurts those lied to and it hurts those who lie. Hypocrisy isn't going to go away over night but it is something we can work on, and we can learn to forgive even those closest to us, who we see repeatedly fall short. We can't do it alone. Yet, we can get through this challenge, like any other challenge set before us.

Trust and Progression

First, this is a detailed outline of talk that I gave today. It doesn't expound on everything, but it gives you a pretty good idea.

Main Point: Trusting in God even when others, and maybe even yourself, tell you otherwise… Having faith and trust in His promises to overcome fear and weakness that prevent progression	Scriptures: Proverbs 3:5-6 D&C 50:40-42 1 Cor. 10:13 Alma 5:33-38, 12:9-14, 32:21-42
-1 What does it mean to trust + why -2 How do we trust -3 Rationality -4 Others’ opinions	Examples and quotes, see below Testimony-

1 What does it mean to trust + why

Briefly, it is letting go of that fear, and it is so we can move forward, with faith that God is there, letting go of the need to know everything and just moving forward.

-2 How do we trust?

Elder Packer talks about how we need inspiration, and we are commanded to pray so that we are able to receive it.  It is a plea from our Father to help us get help.

President Eyring, Mountains to Climb: “Many of you are now passing through physical, mental, and emotional trials that could cause you to cry out as did one great and faithful servant of God I knew well. His nurse heard him exclaim from his bed of pain, ‘When I have tried all my life to be good, why has this happened to me?’”
“The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he? Therefore, hold on thy way….therefore, fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever.”

1 Cor. 10:13

"Don't you quit. You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead. Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don't come until heaven. But for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come. It will be all right in the end. Trust God and believe in good things to come." -Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

"So work hard, and pray, but do not worry" Howard W. Hunter

"Peace in this life is based upon faith and testimony."
James E. Faust

"You have a heritage honor it. You posses a testimony share it. You will face temptations withstand it. You know the truth live it."
— Thomas S. Monson

“Sometimes we let our thoughts of tomorrow take up too much of today. Daydreaming of the past and longing for the future may provide comfort but will not take the place of living in the present. This is the day of our opportunity, and we must grasp it.” Thomas S. Monson
“In Search of Treasure,” Ensign, May 2003, 20.

-3 Rationality

Proverbs 3:5-6, Alma 32:21-42
This one can be hard. When you want something to be true so much, and you don’t have all the pieces in front of you, it is sometimes so incredibly hard to trust that He will give you the pieces at the right time. Keep going. Deal with what you can, put the pieces you have together.
Be curious, but doubt not! Always hold fast to faith and to the light you have already received. Because we see imperfectly in mortality, not everything is going to make sense right now. In fact, I should think that if everything did make sense to us, it would be evidence that it had all been made up by a mortal mind. President Uchtdorf
D&C 50:40-42

-4 Others’ opinions/perspectives

“Every man eventually is backed up to the wall of faith, and there he must make his stand. “And if they are not the words of Christ, judge ye,” said Nephi, “for Christ will show unto you, with power and great glory, that they are his words…” President Benson

It is very important that we not assume the perspective of mortality in making the decisions that bear on eternity! We need the perspectives of the gospel to make decisions in the context of eternity. We need to understand we cannot do the Lord's work in the world's way. –Maxwell “But from a small moment”

Having faith and trust in His promises to overcome fear and weakness that prevent progression

There have been times in my life, recently in fact, where I have felt backed up to that wall of faith. I have felt so alone and helpless, too weak to carry on by myself. Luckily, I am not alone. I was able to hold on to that desire to know my Savior better, to know that His promises are real, so in those dark times, I was able to cry to Him, and He heard and strengthened me, and helped me move forward, even though I still don't have all the answers to my questions, I can move forward in faith.


Testimony and Concluding Quotes

President Eyring, Mountains to Climb “It is never too late to strengthen the foundation of faith. There is always time. With faith in the Savior, you can repent and plead for forgiveness. There is someone you can forgive. There is someone you can thank. There is someone you can serve and lift. You can do it wherever you are and however alone and deserted you may feel.
“I cannot promise an end to your adversity in this life. I cannot assure you that your trials will seem to you to be only for a moment. One of the characteristics of trials in life is that they seem to make clocks slow down and then appear almost to stop.
“There are reasons for that. Knowing those reasons may not give much comfort, but it can give you a feeling of patience. Those reasons come from this one fact: in Their perfect love for you, Heavenly Father and the Savior want you fitted to be with Them to live in families forever. Only those washed perfectly clean through the Atonement of Jesus Christ can be there."

“Wherever you now find yourself on the road of discipleship, you are on the right road, the road toward eternal life. Together we can lift and strengthen one another in the great and important days ahead. Whatever the difficulties confronting us, the weaknesses confining us, or the impossibilities surrounding us, let us have faith in the Son of God, who declared, 'All things are possible to him that believeth.'"
—Elder Neil L. Andersen

Let me [remind] you [of]that we so blithely say in the Church that life is a school, a testing ground. It is true, even though it is trite. What we don't accept are the implications of that true teaching—at least as fully as we should. One of the implications is that the tests that we face are real. They are not going to be things we can do with one hand tied behind our backs. They are real enough that if we meet them we shall know that we have felt them, because we will feel them deeply and keenly and pervasively. –Maxwell “But from a small moment”

If God chooses to teach us the things we most need to learn because he loves us, and if he seeks to tame our souls and gentle us in the way we most need to be tamed and most need to be gentled, it follows that he will customize the challenges he gives us and individualize them so that we will be prepared for life in a better world by his refusal to take us out of this world, even though we are not of it. In the eternal ecology of things we must pray, therefore, not that things be taken from us, but that God's will be accomplished through us. What, therefore, may seem now to be mere unconnected pieces of tile will someday, when we look back, take form and pattern, and we will realize that God was making a mosaic. For there is in each of our lives this kind of divine design, this pattern, this purpose that is in the process of becoming, which is continually before the Lord but which for us, looking forward, is sometimes perplexing. –Maxwell “But from a small moment” –Maxwell “But from a small moment”

“Wherefore, ye may also have hope, and be partakers of the gift, if ye will but have faith.”

This topic was given to me that I may bear testimony before all that I know that He is faithful that promised help and happiness, and I know in whom I have trusted, even though the promises have not been fulfilled yet, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

True Beauty

What is true beauty? What does it mean to have divine worth? What would I say to someone who expressed doubts about their beauty or worth?

I recently helped plan an activity designed to help the girls in my ward feel their worth, to feel beautiful, to feel valued.

My friend and I went around and asked several guys in our ward these questions and recorded their answers (11 minutes, totally worth it to watch) :

After that, several people have asked me what my thoughts are. I'm not sure if it's revenge for putting them on the spot or just curiosity. I am not sure I can come up with complete, or eloquent, answer, but I shall try.

Like many people, agree these concepts get tainted easily. My belief is that there is the true standard, and then imitations created by people who consciously or unconsciously don’t want to have to work for what really matters. For centuries people have debated and tried to analyze what it means to be beautiful. I don't plan to uncover new ground, just explain a little more about how I feel.

Let me see if I can explain this better in the context of the question of beauty and worth.

I grew up at the beginnings of the self-esteem generation, where everyone was involved in activities and everyone gets a trophy. Ok. That didn’t happen to me but I want to illustrate the point.

It is easy to believe something is true if we have an outside source confirming it. This means that what they say can either really be true or false, but we have an easier time believing it with confirmation.

So, with beauty and worth, we are easily swept up in external affirmation. There are true standards of beauty, both physical and in personality. It is thus easy to fall to an easier standard when comparing ourselves to it or against it.

I am not sure if that makes sense, but I was given some questions to answer and I promised I would.

Should a woman care what others think about her beauty? Well – as you’ll see with most of my questions – it depends. What’s her motivation? I care that I am presentable and I like to feel beautiful, but I try not to be concerned about being beautiful to make myself worth something. Should a woman only care about what others think about her beauty? No. Ok. I’m moving on.

Why should a woman spend time and effort to be beautiful?  Well, because everyone is beautiful. And, it edifies those around you when you show you’re beautiful. No, not just in a sexually-attractive sort of way—beauty is more than that. Like thousands of others before me, I struggle trying to explain what beauty is. It’s like faith in that you can’t describe it, but you know the feeling, you know what true beauty is and what it is not – though it is easy to get distracted/blinded and forget the true meaning of both.

Can a person be beautiful and angry? Why? I would say no. They can have a pretty face, but I think beauty is something that radiates from the person, from the inside, and if they are radiating anger, that isn’t beautiful.

What is the value in beauty? Well, something has value if it is worth purchasing/sacrificing for. So, the value in beauty is that it is not something easily attained, that it reflects the meaning behind the person’s life and motives, and that it is worth working for. The hard thing is we over-analyze ourselves in respect to beauty. As is said in the above video, it’s the smile, it’s who the person is. And a good person is hard to find, it’s hard to be, but in some way we all want it because we recognize the meaning behind beauty, at least deep down, is more than looking perfect all the time. The value is that there is meaning behind it and we recognize the depth and motives behind true beauty. I don’t know if I’m making any sense here but that’s what I thought of.

Why is this concept touched on in the 13^th Article of Faith? "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." Well, my understanding of the article is that we seek after things of worth. Beauty is inherently as close to perfect as possible. Therefore, we seek after things that are close to perfection, possibly because it reminds us of our Heavenly Home. We want to become better, and truly good people are beautiful beyond words and so it is something we seek after.

“I’d particularly like to hear why a woman is hurt/offended /upset when they are called beautiful.” Personally, when I am hurt by being called beautiful it is because I don’t feel beautiful, and it’s like a reminder of who I could be and want to be, but feel it is impossible to be beautiful. It’s like the stereotypical high school popular girl pointing out that you aren’t her, even if she doesn’t use words, just the inherent comparison. You can probably tell that I don’t always feel beautiful from what I just said. I want to make it clear that when I remember the truth behind beauty, I can recognize it in myself. It’s just a demon more common in girls to jump to the opposite end of pride, and completely believe that they aren’t beautiful. (I say the opposite end of pride because I fully believe that humility is an acceptance of truth, and in all cases that needs to be balanced. There are always extremes and so, there are two sides of pride)

To quote the person who asked me these questions, “Trying to be beautiful will make you more beautiful, remember to sincerely smile.”

You know the popular song by “One Direction,” “What makes you beautiful”? That song drives me nuts. They say, “you don’t know you’re beautiful, that’s what makes you beautiful.” Now I get that they are meaning the girl isn’t aware of her physical beauty, and is not prideful (in the traditional sense) around others. Yet, it bothers me. What happens when she recognizes that she has inherent beauty and can be humble and quietly confident about it? That’s a semantics problem and we could debate it all day.

Remember to trust in who created you. He knows your worth and has given it to you. That’s what makes you beautiful. You are His child, and you are worth loving, infinitely worth sacrificing for, as His Son, even Jesus Christ, has done for you.