The forget-me-not

This past weekend was the first general relief society address I have ever watched or listened to. I have to admit that I really enjoyed it, but it also felt weird to know that I am now a member of the relief society because I still as if I am too young. In the address, my favorite talk was the concluding talk given by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf. As he began he shared a German legend about a flower called a forget-me-not. The legend says that during the creation, God created all of the plants and animals and then named them. However, this flower was so small that it thought that the Lord had forgotten about him. So the flower shouted out to the Lord, "Forget me not!" However, the Lord forgets nothing and no one; so "forget-me-not" became the name of this beautiful flower. Uchtdorf then relates all people to this flower saying that as humans we forget many things, but to try to perfect ourselves and attempt to become like God, we must follow five "forget-me-not" rules.

The first rule is to "forget not" to be compassionate and patient with yourself. As children of God, we must realize that we are not perfect and that no one else around us is perfect. God wants us to stop comparing our weaknesses to other strengths. However, this does not mean that we are to stop working on becoming better people, it means that we must stop punishing ourselves when we feel we are lacking in certain areas. Then, with God's help, we will be able to turn these weaknesses into our own strengths.

The second rule  is that we must "forget not" the difference between a good sacrifice and a foolish sacrifice. One example Uchtdorf gave of a good sacrifice is when you dedicate time for studying the scriptures or preparing for a lesson. On the other hand, a foolish sacrifice would be to stay up late and sacrifice sleep in order to stitch the title of your lesson into potholders. We must ask ourselves, "am i committing my time and energies to the things that matter most in this life?"

As a third rule, Uchtdorf said to "forget not" to be happy now. He explained this through the use of another analogy in which he talked about the children's story "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". He said that people tend to always be waiting for the next "Golden Ticket" in life and then once it comes, they can not wait for the next ticket to arrive. It is not bad to be excited and look forward to the upcoming event in our lives, but the problem comes when we put our happiness on hold. “The lesson here," Uchtodorf said, "is that if we spend our days waiting for fabulous roses, we could miss the beauty and wonder of the tiny forget-me-not's that are all around us."

Uchtdorf's fourth rule is that we must "forget not" the "why" of the gospel. As humans, we tend to see the gospel as a long "to-do" list and once we have finished, we simply check things off. We know what the Lord wants us to do, but we can sometimes forget why. This gospel is not an obligation but a pathway that we ourselves can choose. If we choose it, it will bring us happiness in this life and in the life to come.

The last "forget-me-not" rule is to "forget not" that the Lord loves you. Like the forget-me-not flower we can sometimes feel as if we are forgotten, small, and insignificant in this world, but as a child of God, we are never forgotten and we are always loved.

As Uchtdorf concluded his talk he asked the sisters in the meeting to make sure that the other "forget-me-not" flowers are not forgotten by being kind and loving to others. As a daughter of God, I know that my Father in Heaven loves me and knows me individually. He knows everyone and loves everyone just as much. I know that at times it feels as if I am alone, but i never truly am. He will always be there for me and He will always love me. I am so grateful for this gospel and the opportunity to know that I can live with my creator again. I know that President Uchtdorf is called of God and that he receives inspiration directly from God. I know that if i follow his words given through his living prophets, i will be blessed and be able to live with him once more.