A Time Out

Yesterday I attended Time Out For Women, a conference sponsored by Deseret Book. It was very enjoyable--entertaining, fun, uplifting, spiritual--all the things that a woman wants in a "time out." The theme was "A Joyful Life." There are a couple of things that I would like to share.

Michael Wilcox, an LDS author and teacher, spoke about the wonder and dignity of our souls and said, "Our true self is us at our best, not our worst." We sometimes think that our weaknesses and low points define our true selves, and when someone compliments us or notices something that we do well, we say to ourselves, "Yes, but if only you knew the real me." He said that we need to remember that the real us is the good things about us.

Emily Watts, also an author and editor for Deseret Book, talked about what she calls "motherguilt" and had us all laughing about how we mothers tend to think that everything that goes wrong in our homes or with our kids is our fault. But just because we are the "core" of our home doesn't make everything our fault! She was asked the question "How can I balance everything?" and she answered it by saying that it was fundamentally the wrong question, because we can't balance everything every day. She said the question we should be asking is, "How can I know what is most important for me to do today?" I thought that was a great thing to remember, because sometimes the whole picture of responsibilities is overwhelming. But if we realize that we can't do it all every day and that it's okay, then we can better decide what is most important today.

Dean Hughes, author and husband of Kathleen Hughes, talked about putting off the natural man and becoming meek. He said he's trying to be more meek by using self-talk when he's in situations that usually upset him and cause him to treat people badly. This was a good reminder to me, that I don't always have to be in a hurry, and that I need to remember that people (mainly my kids) are more important than getting things done in a certain time frame.

Sharon Larson, who used to be in the General YW Presidency, gave a great talk about letting joy and happiness come into our lives. She talked about opening our hearts and clearing out the contamination so joy can come in. She discussed forgiveness, trust in the Lord, letting go of competition, and keeping our covenants as ways to do this. She was very inspirational.

I'll end with my favorite quote of the day from a book that Emily Watts quoted called Uses of Adversity. "The gospel of Jesus Christ is not insurance against pain. It is resource in event of pain."