Continuing the conversation

My personal thoughts on the doer talk..

I wish I sounded more profound? I think I wrote this a little late at night, but the thing I am trying to get across is that.... this talk changed several of my "solidified" views...

To be honest, this talk changed my whole thoughts about being a girl and the challenges we face. I think that self esteem is another way for us to feel sorry for ourselves. But through the power of this talk my opinion has been changed, and molded into something new.
As a teenage girl life is hard, not that it isn’t for everyone, but Satan knows he can use our thoughts and turn them on ourselves. He has a huge upper hand in the media and knows is capabilities in this. He knows that if he can begin to get us to think less of ourselves we will have a lower self image and thus not be able to influence others for good. This talk changed my poor me attitude about this, self esteem is not something physical, it’s a strength that needs to be captured and cultivated into something higher than a look in the mirror.
The part in this talk that struck me the most is when she speaks about spiritual nakedness and how it effects the way we look at ourselves. She states that it is a feeling of guilt, which does, in a sense, cause self doubt. This nakedness which we feel is something that we can also see on the faces of others. You know when someone isn’t living their life to the best of their ability and when the option of sin is weighing heavily in their mind. They are missing that something that usually shines from their eyes. This will allow us to become intraverted, and closed, self conscious maybe, at the time when we need to open up and be bold the most.
Times like these in my own life are times when I have needed my Savior the most. That is why I appreciated the next paragraph so much. It states that He will not leave us comfortless, He knew we would feel such pain being away from His presence. He is all understanding, and gives us that hand when we lift it up to Him. These times when we feel our worst are the times that if we would stretch above ourselves ever so slightly higher, He would lift us to where we want to be. It takes effort, and sometimes we aren’t willing to give it.
Later on she continues to talks about setting ourselves up for these types of feelings. This is true, when we tell ourselves one incorrect principal it causes us to act on that furthering our progression for that closeness to our Heavenly Father. We set up that spiritual disease within ourselves, making our lives more difficult and this is not what our Father intended. He wanted us to be strong, brave, forthright individuals. How can we accomplish this if we are not actually being “do’ers” of what is being taught by our Father.
Finally the thing I love about this talk the most is its overall concept of the unimportance of self esteem. How true this is. Self esteem is something that the carnal man seeks after, and are we to be carnal men? No. We are to seek for something better, something higher. I am reminded of a song, I believe written by Hilary Weeks. It says something like… “Does the light of Christ shine through your eyes?” We all know those people who can get up in front of a crowd not prepared, bear a beautiful testimony and leave the whole congregation satisfied with the spirit and the power of their words. These are the types of people with whom Christ walks. He knows their heart and their intentions. He knows that self esteem is something that never crosses their mind because they know their God. They have taken the time to come close to him and understand that through Him, is the only true type of confidence found.
Self esteem is not something we should search for in a wishing well, in a mirror, a new pair of pants, or even things like surgery or colored contacts. It is something that is meant to bless the lives of others with goodness. It cannot bless the lives of others with the spirit if it is not founded in the spirit. It is something Godly, and worth seeking for, if only for the right reasons.