I've been a Mia Maids advisor for about a year and a half now, and from day 1 I've never felt adequate. half the time (okay, all the time) I look like I am one of these 15-16 year old girls. I am shorter than all of them, they all dress cuter than me, and they all have testimonies that are leaps and bounds stronger than mine was at that age. Not to mention that these other leaders I'm with are amazing moms and just amazing women in general. I look up to them so much.
One thing that I grew up hearing is that callings are blessings. Say what? Okay, primary was fun, but it was definitely hard to feel the spirit each week as we coloring and teaching the kids what accountability is. But! As terrified as I was when I was called to young women's, I am ten times more terrified to be released. I finally know why all these crazy people in my ward growing up kept saying that callings were blessings. Not only have I grown to love and admire these girls and women I serve, but I have grown myself. This calling has pushed me beyond my comfort level, and has also challenged me to be a better version of myself. What more could a pregnant girl want? I can only hope that my future kids will be as faithful, kind, and amazing as these girls.
One of my favorite things that we've started doing is having the girls help us teach. They take the first 5-10 minutes or so and teach our topic, then leaders finish it off. Today, Janie chose the topic,"who am I, and who can I become?" She started by having each of us write our name down on a piece of paper, then we passed the paper around and we wrote a few nice things about each person in our class. When it all got passed around, we read what everyone said about us aloud. This is one of my favorite things to do, because it reminds me that how I view myself isn't always accurate. The kind words written about me were overwhelming and made me feel like a million bucks. Plus, I think this is an perfect exercise for girls especially, because we are all more critical of ourselves than we should be, and than is fair. We are all awesome.
Anyways, someone wrote in mine,"is going to be a good mom," and I about died. I feel like such a hot mess in young women's with all these super moms giving awesome lessons, in their organized and inspirational glory, and knowing that someone out there (besides mat) thinks that I am going to be a good mom makes me feel adequate. It makes me feel like these girls don't see me as their crazy leader that is their friend, but that they also look up to me. Even that the other leaders see that much in me... Now that is a confidence boost. I just wanted to remember this, so that in the future, when I'm awake at 2am on Saturday night with a crying babe and a lesson to plan, I can have a reminder that I am adequate, and that others believe in me, and that I should believe in myself.
