When she was preparing for her talk, we emphasized to her that she needed to shoot for as close to five minutes long as she could (and to talk slowly.) She stressed about that for a little while (when you've only given 2 minute talks in Primary and in the Primary program, 5 minutes seems impossibly long!) but thankfully wasn't nervous about speaking in front of the whole congregation.
She wrote it on her own, with a handful of rewrites over the course of two weeks to keep adding to the length. And then the night before she presented it, we listened to her practice and only made one suggestion for a small change. She was so proud of herself! Below I've included her entire talk.
Today I was asked to talk about being honest and true. I based my talk on one that Sister Ann M. Dibb, second counselor in the Young Women General Presidency gave in the April 2011 General Conference. It was titled, I Believe in Being Honest and True. In this she said, "being true to our beliefs-even when doing so isn't popular, easy, or fun-keeps us safely on the path that leads to eternal life with our Heavenly Father." When I read that sentence, I thought about a situation in one of the books that I read. The Sisters Grimm, book 4, Once Upon a Crime.
In this book, Sabrina Grimm decides to leave the family business because so many people hate her family. But after one encounter with a huge robot bent on destroying the Grimm family, and destroying the city in the process, she realizes that if she doesn't help her family there will be world destruction and she will never have the happy family she has always wanted. So her family isn't popular and it wasn't easy or fun to stand beside them. But that's what she needed to do to keep herself, her sister, and everyone she cared about safe, but also to keep on the path to a happy family life.
This situation is very similar to the story of Esther. In the story of Ester, the king is going to destroy her people, the Jews. Like Sabrina, it would have been easier for both of them to not do anything but they both chose to risk their life for their beliefs, their family, and in Esther's case, her people.
For me, being honest means not to lie and to never hide secrets from your parents. My mom would tell us, "if someone tells you a secret and says not to tell you parents, you tell me and your father immediately." She would also teach us, "if someone says they were sent by me to pick you up and you don't know them, ask them what the password is." The password she would tell them made us kids sure that they were safe and that they were telling the truth.
Sister Ann M. Dibb shared a story, "A man...went one evening to steal corn from a neighbor's field. He took his little boy with him to sit on the fence and to keep a lookout, so as to give a warning in case anyone should come along. The man jumped over the fence with a large bag on his arm, and before commencing to take the corn he looked all around, first one way and then the other, and not seeing any person, he was just about to fill his bag. Then the boy called out, 'Father, there is one way you haven't look yet!...You forgot to look up.'" This story reminds us that our Heavenly Father always knows, and we are ultimately accountable to him.
The first line in the Thirteenth Article of Faith says, "We believe in being honest and true." This means we will try our best at being honest, and true. The Ninth Commandment states: "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." That means we will always tell the truth even if it will get someone you care for in trouble.
Imagine yourself in a situation like this. You and your friends are hanging out at lunch and one of them starts a fight. You somehow get involved and you get a black eye. A teacher comes and stops the fight but takes you and the friend to the principal's office. She asks who started the fight and your friend says that they didn't. Then she asks you. What would you do? Telling the truth would get your friend in trouble but lying would not be right. Some of us might face problems like this more than others. It will always be best to be honest and tell the truth.
Being honest and true can be hard sometimes, but it's worth it in the end. If we follow the prophets words we are being honest and true to our religion. When I'm being honest and true I feel like I'm getting closer to Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. I believe that being honest and true will bring us great rewards in heaven and that we will be happy in the day of judgement.
I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Where were we? Great talk!
ReplyDeleteI don't remember. This was a couple months ago.
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