The Moral Force of Women by Elder Christofferson

"My plea to women and girls today is to protect and cultivate the moral force that is within you. Preserve that innate virtue and the unique gifts you bring with you into the world. Your intuition is to do good and to be good, and as you follow the Holy Spirit, your moral authority and influence will grow. To the young women I say, don’t lose that moral force even before you have it in full measure. Take particular care that your language is clean, not coarse; that your dress reflects modesty, not vanity; and that your conduct manifests purity, not promiscuity. You cannot lift others to virtue on the one hand if you are entertaining vice on the other."

Sometimes our lessons are nothing more than a casual chat while our hands are busy with a fun project.  One afternoon, while doing such a project, the girls and I talked about Elder Christofferson's talk The Moral Force of Women.

There is such a great endorsement of women and their moral authority in the world in this talk.  We focused on the idea that as women our "intuition is to do good and to be good," and that as we follow the Holy Spirit and choose to be modest and virtuous, our moral authority--our ability to do good and be good and to influence others--will grow.

What more could we want than to grow in virtue and beauty and moral authority?  The words of the apostles are full of simple, powerful promises.  I would encourage us to seek those promises out and live them, so that we can receive those blessings.

I love that all women and girls (ages 8 and over) are being invited to the Women's Broadcast next Saturday night.  I listened to an interview with the Presidents of the Auxiliaries, and they said that the reason why this is being done is to foster mentoring and to give young girls an opportunity to see what virtuous womanhood looks like.

Our "project" was making bubble gum necklaces, since it was the Friday before St. Patrick's Day.  We also made Shamrock bracelets and bubble gum necklaces to share with their friends...after all, this is one of the ways that women manifest their desire to do and be good...by making things for and giving of themselves and their time to one another.

You can see how to make the bubble gum necklaces here and the shamrock bracelets here.

Here are our General Conference Review Lessons for the October 2013 Conference so far:

The Stronger the Wind, The Stronger the Trees - President Monson

Angels to Watch over Us - President Eyring

Come, Join With Us - President Uchtdorf

The Key to Spiritual Protection - President Packer

The Articles of Faith - Elder Perry

Like a Broken Vessel - Elder Holland

Trust in the Lord - Elder Ballard

No Other Gods - Elder Oaks

Beware of Bondage - Elder Cook

Decisions for Eternity  - Elder Nelson

Repentance: The Hope-filled Path - Elder Scott

The Moral Force of Women - Elder Christofferson

Windows, Priesthood & Tithing - Elder Bednar & Elder Andersen

"Oh, How We Need General Conference! - Elder Hales