followers of my faith [Mormon Monday 01]

I like to quote movies sometimes. (Every single time I pass by Saltaire, for example, I must give the famous paraphrase: "Saltaire, hair. Personally, I'd like to learn about Saltaire.") One thing I say on a regular basis is "That's my motto!"

That's from Matilda. Miss Trunchbull says it. I declare it whenever I've delivered an exceptionally pithy statement like "Eating candy is fun and awful." Then when my audience doesn't give the feedback I'm expecting I follow up boldly, "That's my motto!"

(I made up that motto just now. I can't remember any of my exceptionally pithy statements, which I guess leads to a suggested motto of "Write these things down!" Classic.)

But, see, I don't have a real motto. I don't have a statement I live my life by, or try to emulate. On the one hand it means I don't bother people with my repetition of one sentence over and over, but on the other it means that I can't make a cross-stitch, or pin it on Pinterest, or comfort myself by repeating it in times of trouble.

In reading the 2011 BYU Women's Conference selected talks, I've come across a few mottoes that certainly couldn't hurt to live by.

One of them is "I can do hard things." But I can't use that one. My sister used that one when she had to clean out the puke tank at Taco Maker. Every time I think about that phrase I think about my sister's awful job. I don't need those kind of associations.

Sister Susan W. Tanner's talk "Legacy of Relief Society" had a surprising number of mottoes. (She specifically pointed out two -- so many!). She wrote Daughters in my Kingdom and so delved into a lot of Relief Society history. She shared a few stories about women she studied (and from which the following mottoes come). I'll paraphrase so you don't have to read the talk yourself.

Lucy Meserve Smith was one of those who immediately gave of the clothes off her back when hearing about the stranded and destitute handcart companies in October 1856. She worked very hard to be of service, and then her journal states, "What comes next for willing hands to do?"

Louise Yates Robison was an ordinary pioneer woman who, when she was called as a counselor to the General Relief Society Presidency, sustained herself in the conference without realizing it was she who had been sustained. She later was the General Relief Society President through the Great Depression. Her motto was: "Welcome the task that takes you beyond yourself."

These mottoes have in common that they make me feel tired. But I know if I took them to heart my life would be blessed. Even better would be a scripture (I know there are very good ones out there). So I'm pondering that this week.

Here is where I could open it up to discussion and ask what your mottoes are, but I'm not running that kind of blog.

Well, that marks the end of my very first Motto Mormon Monday!