Tuesday, June 21, 2016

True Greatness

We are in Oregon visiting family for the majority of the summer, and while at church last Sunday my second mom Julie Doll gave a lesson that I really needed to hear.  It completely relates to my previous post about my desire to do something with my life, and her message brought me a lot of peace.

The lesson was called, "True Greatness", based off teachings by President Howard W. Hunter.  I was touched by the following:

To those who are furthering the work of the Lord in so many quiet but significant ways, to those who are the salt of the earth and the strength of the world and the backbone of each nation—to you we would simply express our admiration. If you endure to the end, and if you are valiant in the testimony of Jesus, you will achieve true greatness and will one day live in the presence of our Father in Heaven.
As President Joseph F. Smith has said, “Let us not be trying to substitute an artificial life for the true one.” Let us remember that doing the things that have been ordained by God to be important and needful and necessary, even though the world may view them as unimportant and insignificant, will eventually lead to true greatness.
“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
“While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Cor. 4:17–18.)
We discussed things like social media, and their influence on what we think "greatness" really is.  I shared my feelings about instagram specifically.  That it is easy to see things the world deems as great.  It is easy to scroll through and see what is portrayed as perfection and success in someone's life.  How many popular accounts are of moms simply being moms?  Not too many, and they are leading lives of greatness too, behind the scenes and without much praise.  I was overwhelmed with emotion, and felt so much peace.  As if Heavenly Father gave me a hug and said, you really are doing a great job.  Don't forget that motherhood is what I see as true greatness.  Even now writing about it, I feel the same peace as I did in that moment.  
I still desire to pursue dreams and achieve goals, but I also want to see each day with my children as my greatest achievement.