"To you women, I wish to issue a challenge tonight. That challenge is to rise to the stature of the divine within you. As you have been reminded, yours is a godly inheritance. “I am a child of God” is not an idle or meaningless statement. You were there “when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons [and daughters] of God shouted for joy.” (Job 38:7.) You brought some of that inheritance with you when you came “trailing clouds of glory … from God who is our home.” (William Wordsworth, “Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood,” st. 5.) You were there when “there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. …
“And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” (Rev. 12:7, 9.) You were among those who chose to follow the plan of Him who became our Redeemer rather than the plan of him who became our adversary. Great and marvelous is your place in the plan of God our Eternal Father.
Is there anything more beautiful, anything that speaks more of divinity than a lovely little girl? I have little granddaughters, bright-eyed and beautiful, who sing and smile and touch my heart with thoughts of heaven. When I see them in their innocence, I recall the words of the Lord, “Except ye … become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 18:3; see also 3 Ne. 11:37–38.)
I see young women, radiant in the beauty of youth, whose virtue is more precious than rubies—young women who are bright and who study with enthusiasm and diligence to learn the word of the Lord and also to equip themselves to take their places with honor and ability in the world in which they will live. I see young women who know the word of God and can quote it; who know the standards of the Church and live by them; who have a sense of worth and a wondrous sensitivity to the beauties of life and nature, music and art; who treasure truth and seek to enlarge their understanding of it; who have determined that worthiness to enter the house of the Lord for a divine endowment and an eternal sealing is the most desirable of all goals. Can anyone doubt that there is something divine within such?
I see young mothers. I have three daughters and two daughters-in-law who love and honor their husbands, who nurture and treasure and train their children, who teach and direct in the organizations of the Church, who go to the house of the Lord with unselfishness in their hearts, who love life and face its challenges and adversities as well as drink deeply of its enriching experiences and beauties.
I enjoy their laughter and their scintillating discussions one with another, and I thank the Lord for them, and very many like them, for the touch of divinity within them.
happy marriage is the aim of every young woman. I know that some will be denied this opportunity. I urge you not to spend your time in self-pity. Rather, keep yourselves alive and vivacious in those activities which will bring satisfaction into your lives while associating with others who are vigorously pursuing lofty objectives. Remember always that you are not alone. There are thousands like you. And you are not helpless, a victim of fate. You can in large measure master your fate and strengthen your self-worth in reaching out to those who need and will appreciate your talents, your contributions, your help.
To those of you who are married, make of your marriage a partnership. As I have said before from this pulpit, I am satisfied that God our Eternal Father does not love His daughters less than He loves His sons. Under the gospel plan the wife walks neither ahead nor behind her husband, but at his side in a true companionship before the Lord.
I wish with all of my heart that every marriage might be a happy marriage. I wish that every marriage might be an eternal partnership. I believe that wish can be realized if there is a willingness to make the effort to bring it to pass. God bless you, my beloved sisters, who stand as the queens in your home, that you may be happy with that happiness which comes of the knowledge that you are loved and honored and treasured.
In the pioneering days of this church when men grubbed the sagebrush and broke the sod so that crops might be planted to sustain life, many a wife and mother planted a few flowers and a few fruit trees to add beauty and taste to the drabness of pioneer life. There are so many things that you can do. Beauty is a thing divine. The cultivation of it becomes an expression of the divine nature within you.
Yes, there are adversities to be overcome, not a few of them. There are trials to be endured. There is much of evil in the world and too much of harshness, even in the home. Do what you can to rise above all of this. Stand up. Speak out against evil and brutality. Safeguard against abuse. Keep out of your homes the filthiness of the world, which can lead to such abuse. Rise up in the stature of your divine inheritance. God bless you, you wonderful girls, you strong and able young women, you older women of faith and integrity, you mothers in Zion, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
So let's us give our selves to the presence of the lord. And we shall have his everlasting blessings.
