Modesty: More than Clothes

I realized that I haven't posted very much (if at all) about modesty and what it means in the LDS Church.

Despite worldly views, many boys appreciate it when girls dress modestly. An example of this was the survey done by Alex and Brett Harris (teen authors of "Do Hard Things"--an amazing book!)
http://therebelution.com/blog/category/modesty-survey/#.VO0XM033-iw

They asked boys what they thought about modesty and if they were comfortable around girls who were immodest. Most of them (I believe nearly all of them) answered that they were uncomfortable when girls were not dressed modestly. 

My brothers and I have a song we enjoy that teaches this principle very well, and it's super funny :D

So what does "Modesty" mean? A dictionary defintion is: behavior, manner, or appearance intended to avoid impropriety or indecency. Isn't that cool? It said "behavior" and "manner" in addition to just your appearance.

Here are the specific standards that the LDS Church encourages:"Immodest clothing is any clothing that is tight, sheer, or revealing in any other manner. Young women should avoid short shorts and short skirts, shirts that do not cover the stomach, and clothing that does not cover the shoulders or is low-cut in the front or the back. Young men should also maintain modesty in their appearance. Young men and young women should be neat and clean and avoid being extreme or inappropriately casual in clothing, hairstyle, and behavior. They should choose appropriately modest apparel when participating in sports. The fashions of the world will change, but the Lord’s standards will not change."

Why is modesty important? The Lord gave us our bodies, didn't He? Why does it matter if they're modestly portrayed?

The temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.  

(1 Corinthians 3:17)

If you had something sacred, something that you cherished, say a locket with a picture. Would you give that locket to anyone? No.

For the Strength of Youth says this: 

Through your dress and appearance, you can show that you know how precious your body is. You can show that you are a disciple of Jesus Christ and that you love Him.
Prophets of God have continually counseled His children to dress modestly. When you are well groomed and modestly dressed, you invite the companionship of the Spirit and you can be a good influence on others. Your dress and grooming influence the way you and others act.

Here are a couple of articles that you can listen to or read that can improve your understanding of modesty:
 Modesty: Reverence for the Lord
Modesty: A Timeless Principle for All

I know that as I am modest I feel sooooo much more comfortable than when I know that what I'm wearing is too short or too tight. I also feel the Spirit more easily, not only when I am modest, but when those around me are modest and act in a modest manner.
I am grateful for the guidance of prophets and other church leaders. Without it, I'm sure I'd have a hard time knowing about dress standards and how much they can affect my life.

Charity

And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and enviethnot, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easilyprovoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. (Moroni 7:46)

To truly understand charity, I'd like to look at each of the aspects mentioned in the scripture.

And charity suffereth long, ...

...and is kind, ...

...and envieth not, ...

(sorry for all of the videos, but they are such a great way to teach and to illustrate a point)

...and is not puffed up, ...
https://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/content/images/gospel-library/manual/32506/32506_000_057_08-thecycle.pdf
--This is a cycle noted not only in the Book of Mormon, but in other histories as well. How does charity fit into the cycle? Where would you put it? How could we end the cycle in our lives? Does it take charity?

...seeketh not her own, ...

(I just love these Thai videos)

...is not easily provoked, ...
Janie's 70 times 7

... Slowly Janie stood. OK, she thought. I’ll forgive him seventy times seven. But then he’s really going to get it! She went to her bedroom and sat down at her desk. On a piece of scratch paper, she multiplied seventy times seven. “Four hundred and ninety times!” she exclaimed, dismayed. She opened a notebook and wrote “Number of times I’ve forgiven Jimmy” on the top of the first page. Underneath, she made two slashes. “That’s two,” she said aloud. “Only four hundred and eighty-eight to go.” ...

...thinketh no evil, ...
Why would having charity require you to "think no evil"? Can you steal and have perfect charity? Can you lust and have perfect charity? 
Can you allow unclean thoughts that involve God or others into your mind and have charity? Are any thoughts unclean that don't include impure thoughts of God or others?

...and rejoiceth not in iniquity ...
"Love the sinner, not the sin." I've found that to be a very important, but a very difficult maxim.

...but rejoiceth in the truth, ...

God the Eternal Father did not give that first great commandment because He needs us to love Him. ...No, God does not need us to love Him. But oh, how we need to love God!For what we love determines what we seek.What we seek determines what we think and do.What we think and do determines who we are—and who we will become.

-Pres. Uchtdorf

...beareth all things, ...


...believeth all things, ...
Faith, Hope, and Charity. You see them together a lot. Can you really have one without the other? It makes sense that in order to have charity, you need to have hope and faith. When you can believe in the eternal identity of others, and the amazing potential they possess it becomes so much easier to love them.

...hopeth all things, ...
Loved Back into Activity (activity=attending church and fulfilling callings)
Along with this story, I think of the story of Alma the Younger (see Mosiah 27, or this article)

...endureth all things.

1 Corinthians 13:13

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; 

but the greatest of these is CHARITY.

Missionary Work-- Sacrificing our Music, or Sharing our Music?

I've heard it said that it's not a sacrifice unless it's hard.
I was very touched by this story of a young man sacrificing one of his greatest treasures in order to answer his call to serve.

"In Search of Treasure" (Thomas S Monson)
Benjamin Landart ..., in 1888, was 15 years old and an accomplished violinist. Living on a farm in northern Utah with his mother and seven brothers and sisters was sometimes a challenge to Benjamin, as he had less time than he would have liked to play his violin. Occasionally his mother would lock up the violin until he had his farm chores done, so great was the temptation for Benjamin to play it.

In late 1892 Benjamin was asked to travel to Salt Lake to audition for a place with the territorial orchestra. For him, this was a dream come true. After several weeks of practicing and prayers, he went to Salt Lake in March of 1893 for the much anticipated audition. When he heard Benjamin play, the conductor, a Mr. Dean, told Benjamin he was the most accomplished violinist he had heard west of Denver. He was told to report to Denver for rehearsals in the fall and learned that he would be earning enough to keep himself, with some left over to send home.

A week after Benjamin received the good news, however, his bishop called him into his office and asked if he couldn’t put off playing with the orchestra for a couple of years. He told Benjamin that before he started earning money there was something he owed the Lord. He then asked Benjamin to accept a mission call.

Benjamin felt that giving up his chance to play in the territorial orchestra would be almost more than he could bear, but he also knew what his decision should be. He promised the bishop that if there were any way to raise the money for him to serve, he would accept the call.

When Benjamin told his mother about the call, she was overjoyed. She told him that his father had always wanted to serve a mission but had been killed before that opportunity had come to him. However, when they discussed the financing of the mission, her face clouded over. Benjamin told her he would not allow her to sell any more of their land. She studied his face for a moment and then said, “Ben, there is a way we can raise the money. This family [has] one thing that is of great enough value to send you on your mission. You will have to sell your violin.”

Ten days later, on March 23, 1893, Benjamin wrote in his journal: “I awoke this morning and took my violin from its case. All day long I played the music I love. In the evening when the light grew dim and I could see to play no longer, I placed the instrument in its case. It will be enough. Tomorrow I leave [for my mission].”

Forty-five years later, on June 23, 1938, Benjamin wrote in his journal: “The greatest decision I ever made in my life was to give up something I dearly loved to the God I loved even more. He has never forgotten me for it.”

(David Archuleta's experience on his mission (1 hour long Live Q&A))

I'm so excited for my own mission. I don't have a brilliant career I'm leaving behind. However, I hope that I will be able to leave a legacy behind me.

No Regrets-- How your Decisions Determine your Destiny

There was a beautiful lesson today in Young Women's. "Why do the Choices I make Matter?" Why do they matter? If there is no tomorrow-- no life after death-- they don't really matter, do they?
Well let's assume that there is life after death*. Now do your choices matter? Well, only if there is a rule for happiness in the next life.
There's a great scripture about people who think that way:
2 Nephi 28:7 Yea, and there shall be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die; and it shall be well with us.

 8 And there shall also be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry; nevertheless, fear God—he will justify in committing a little sin; yea, lie a little, take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor; there is no harm in this; and do all these things, for tomorrow we die; and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God.

 9 Yea, and there shall be many which shall teach after this manner, false and vain and foolish doctrines, and shall be puffed up in their hearts, and shall seek deep to hide their counsels from the Lord; and their works shall be in the dark."

Now here's the response to that line of thinking:

"2 Nephi 2:13 And if ye shall say there is no law, ye shall also say there is no sin. If ye shall say there is no sin, ye shall also say there is no righteousness. And if there be no righteousness there be no happiness. And if there be no righteousness nor happiness there be no punishment nor misery. And if these things are not there is no God. And if there is no God we are not, neither the earth; for there could have been no creation of things, neither to act nor to be acted upon; wherefore, all things must have vanished away."

From these scriptures, I have obtained a testimony that YES, there is life after death; YES, there is a judgement; and YES, we do need to meet up to the Lord's standards through our choices.
These are some boys who followed their standards, and were blessed exceedingly for their choice:

A big danger in today's society is this philosophy: "There is no right or wrong. What's wrong for you can be right for me, and I don't think it's wrong to get drunk every weekend." Relative morality is dangerous, and it is a false philosophy.
In the Screwtape Letters by C.S.Lewis, Screwtape tells Wormwood (the devil he is training) that one of the greatest tools the devil has is to tell people that there is no devil. Once they get someone to accept that idea, they can whisper whatever they want to that person, and the person will act on it; never choosing to believe that they are following an evil influence. However, even if they choose to believe it (or rather, to not believe it), that doesn't mean that they don't feel the negative effects in their heart. That is, unless they've numbed themselves.
My dad describes your conscience in this way: it's like a triangle. When you do something wrong, it will give a little turn, and prick you, to tell you that it's wrong. But if you keep on turning that triangle, the edges will wear, until you end up with a circle. It continues to whirl around, trying to warn you of the danger you've stumbled into, but you can't feel it anymore. 

As you make decisions, try to make them so that you can live life with no regrets.

When you watch this video, try to think of ways that the Devil is trying to "lead you carefully down to hell." (For me, it's watching action movies that have swearing and immoral references. That is a standard I have set for myself.)

I know that our decisions really will determine where we go. Where we go in this life, and where we'll go after. It is completely worth it to live with "no regrets." It truly will be easier in the long run to set standards for themselves. We can make it, we can stand up for ourselves!

*https://www.lds.org/manual/preparing-for-exaltation-teachers-manual/lesson-7-what-happens-after-death?lang=eng
http://www.mormon.org/faq/life-after-death