Forget Me Not

Last night I went to the General Relief Society broadcast with my roomies. See...there we are.

Our first roommate pic. How precious. We decided to make a day of it and went to the Gateway. While the other two shopped I enjoyed the nice weather outside and then enjoyed Barnes and Nobles' free WiFi when the sun got too hot for me. We then went to California Pizza Kitchen for dinner. Maybe it's what I got, but it was meh. On our way back to the car we stopped in at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and got a couple goodies.

The talks were great, of course but my favorite was definitely President Uchtdorf's. That man is amazing! His talk particularly touched me and I feel like sharing it. He started by talking about Forget Me Not flowers and then went on to give us 5 "Forget me nots". I'm going to write them down and then if I have thoughts on them, I will share:

1) Forget not to be patient with yourself

This one is so important. We really are so hard on ourselves all the time. God knows we're not perfect. We know we're not perfect. And guess what? Everyone else knows we're not perfect and they don't expect us to be! While we may compare ourselves to others during very human moments of weakness, we have to remember to be patient with our short comings. Nobody else is perfect either.

2) Forget not the difference between a good sacrifice and a foolish sacrifice.

While he used a couple of silly examples to illustrate this one, I liked the general message. So many times I think we are humans forget what a good sacrifice really is. This is when the "Good, Better, Best" philosophy comes in handy. "Am I committing my time and energies to those things that matter most?"

3) Forget not to be happy now

Oh boy. This is one I have struggled with lately, if you couldn't tell from my last post. I heard him say this and I wanted to stand up and say "Sorry, President! I'll be better I swear! You don't need to single me out like that". Ok, I didn't really think that. But I did feel like he was talking to me. It's a nice reminder. Be happy NOW.

4)Forget not the "why" of the Gospel

Awesome statement. So many members get so caught up in doing everything right, in attending to everything that needs to be done and trying to be the best at it that they lose sight of why they're doing it in the first place. This Gospel is not about one upping your neighbors or the leaders from the year before. It's about individual improvement and the journey to exaltation. It's about love, service and charity. It's about following the example of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and being able to live again with our Father in Heaven and our families forever.

5)Forget not that the Lord loves you

This seems silly at first. Of course God loves us. We're his children. But that's what's beautiful about it. He loves us BECAUSE we are HIS children. It's something we hear a lot (and occasionally sing about) but do we really take it to heart. It's not a metaphor. God is my father and I am His daughter. Literally.

I know I'm not a parent, but as a child I believe that there is no love more pure than that between a parent and child. It's the most natural relationship and form of love. I know that because God is my father, He will always love me and watch out for me. What more can you need?

Before he ended his talk, President Uchtdorf said something to the effect of the Forget me not flower being a symbol of the small things that make life sweet.

We need to learn to cherish our own, daily "forget me nots"