who you are, is beautiful

I've decided:

New Testament is my favorite class.

...And that's saying something, because I adore all my classes!

Not only do I learn wonderful facts about Jesus Christ and his life on earth, but I have never had a class (as far as I can remember) where I always leave feeling so uplifted and enlightened, determined to be a better person.

Just one example:

I was feeling really down today,

(it's because I haven't exercised in 2 days, I know it)

when I get an email from my New Testament professor that contained the following thought from Sister Patricia Holland, wife of apostle Elder Jeffrey R. Holland:

(I know it's long, but trust me, so worth it)

"Our Father in Heaven needs us as we are, as we are growing to become. He has intentionally made us different form one another so that even with our imperfections we can fulfill his purposes. My greatest misery comes when I feel I have to fit what others are doing, or what I think others expect of me. I am most happy when I am comfortable being me and trying to do what my Father in heaven and I expect me to be.

“For many years I tried to measure the oft times quiet, reflective, thoughtful Pat Holland against the robust, bubbly, talkative, and energetic Jeff Holland and others with like qualities. I have learned through several fatiguing failures that you can’t have joy in being bubbly if you are not a bubbly person. It is a contradiction of terms. I have given up seeing myself as a flawed person because my energy level is lower than Jeff’s, and I don’t talk as much as he does, nor as fast. Giving this up has freed me to embrace and rejoice in my own manner and personality in the measure of my creation. Ironically, that has allowed me to admire and enjoy Jeff’s ebullience even more.

“Somewhere, somehow the Lord ‘blipped the message unto my screen’ that my personality was created to fit precisely the mission and talents he gave me. For example, the quieter, calmer talent of playing the piano reveals much about the real Pat Holland. I would never have learned to play the piano if I hadn’t enjoyed the long hours of solitude required for its development. This same principle applies to my love of writing, reading, meditation, and especially teaching and talking with children. Miraculously, I have found that I have untold abundant sources of energy to be myself. But the moment I indulge in imitation of my neighbor, I feel fractured and fatigued and find myself forever swimming upstream. When we frustrate God’s plan for us, we deprive this world and God’s kingdom of our unique contributions, and a serious schism settles in our soul. God never gave us any task beyond our ability to accomplish it. We just have to be willing to do it our own way. We will always have enough resources for being who we are and what we can become.”

(Pat Holland, LDS Women’s Treasury: Insights and Inspiration for Today’s Woman, p. 104)

Just what I needed.  

And I hope it helped you, too.  

May you have peace.