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I’m trying something new in my Young Women’s lessons called “Reflections”. It’s a mental exercise that my dad told me about. He shared with me how much this simple practice has helped the youth of his stake to take what they are learning and apply it to their lives. My father told me about one particular ward in which a charismatic football player and his Priest Quorum {young men’s group for 16-18 year olds} had grown and become tighter knit from their experiences while doing this exercise. They overcame differences and became a happy, thriving, loving unit. It sounded incredible. Sure couldn’t hurt to try, right?

My dad sums it up as: Learn – Act – Share = Reflections.

Learn something. Act upon it. Share what you learned and how you felt.

If we don’t apply what we are learning, if we don’t connect to it and see how it works in our life, we won’t own that concept. It goes in one ear and out the other. It holds no substance and therefore no place in our being. In a lot of cases, we just keep beating ourselves against that same lesson/test/struggle/experience over and over again. It presents itself time and time again because we didn’t get it. But, when you listen with purpose, trying to apply that thought or that feeling to a problem or a situation, looking deeply and introspectively, you learn and inevitably, you grow.

That is what I want for my girls. I want them to learn, grow, and help each other in the process. I want them to learn to take what is thrown at them in life and become better, stronger, and closer to their Savior. To reflect and become who they are meant to be.

So, today before our lesson, I enrolled them into this new Reflection challenge. I asked them to listen to the lesson and see where it fit in their lives. To listen to promptings and acknowledge feelings. To think of an experience, a struggle, or something that struck a chord. After my dear friend finished giving her lesson, I asked the girls for a reflection.

I won’t lie. I was crazy panic worried that it was going to flop, that they wouldn’t get what I was asking. That I would see blank faces and only hear the chirping of crickets. {If you have ever worked with youth in any capacity, you totally understand my fears!}

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Without hesitation, 5 different girls shared what they had learned, how they had felt, and what they were going to do differently. They found insights in that lesson that I would have never in my wildest imagination thought they would pick up on. Wonderful, beautiful insights that left me with a tear in my eye and a great appreciation for the girls that I serve. They got it and for those 5 girls, the lesson touched them, and we were able to watch a spark be lit in that aspect of their lives. It was nothing short of an amazing experience for me.

You know, there were other girls in the room who didn’t act interested at all. But, they were there, and they listened. I don’t know if they got what was taught in the lesson, but I watched their eyes as their fellow classmates shared. They heard. A tiny seed was planted. Whether they nurture that seed and let it grow is up to them. But, it was planted.

And, that is something.

We leaders can teach and talk until our face is blue and the cows come home, but when a peer shares something, that’s when they hear it. That’s when faith is strengthened and little bonds of love are formed. And, today I got to witness a little piece of that. I don’t know if the other leaders saw what I saw, but it was there and it was magnificent.

So, here is your challenge, whether you are religious or not…

When something presents itself in your life, a quote, a talk, a thought, an experience, whatever it may be, mentally stop and take note. Apply it. What can you learn? What are you feeling and why? Where do you go from here? Acknowledge it. Feel it. Own it. Allow yourself to grow.

Reflect and Become.

There is something to learn from every experience. Every heartache. Every struggle. Every success. Find it and own it.