EARNING MY HONOR BEE
Updated: Feb 23, 2020
Within the past couple of years, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has initiated some amazing changes in curriculum, service opportunities, and even the structure of meetings. Each of these changes had one goal in mind: to help bring each of us closer to Christ. As I have implemented the changes into my own life, I have seen them do just that. However, there was one change that I was a little bummed about, and that was the retirement of the Personal Progress Program. I owe the few Christlike attributes I have and my initial testimony of the Book of Mormon to the Personal Progress Program.
While I participated in Personal Progress as a youth, I made the goal to complete the assigned values and projects and earn my Young Women’s Medallion. Each of the experiences and values help young women to learn their value as a Daughter of God, help them to develop the attributes of Christ, and help them to firmly plant their testimonies in the Gospel. Sadly, these areas of growth were not the driving forces behind my desire to complete this program. One of my amazing Young Women’s Presidents informed me that completing the program was an accomplishment that could greatly aid one’s cause for attending BYU. Right then and there, I knew I was going to up my chances of getting in by completing the program.
So, that is what I did. My senior year I completed Personal Progress, received my Young Women’s Medallion, and was even blessed to develop a testimony of Christ and His Gospel along the way (despite my less than stellar intentions). Completely content with where I was, I had no desire to complete the “extra” award from Personal Progress, the Honor Bee. That is, until we flashforward sixish years to 2019. Hearing that in less than six months my now beloved Personal Progress would be taken from me, I knew I needed to GET ON earning my Honor Bee. Just as it had six years prior, completing my Honor Bee gave me so much more than just a little bee charm and bragging rights. Today on Negative (N)ellie, I am going to share some of those amazing things I gained.
A Deeper Love
One of the requirements for earning one’s Honor Bee is to help another young woman complete the Personal Progress Program. Being that I am a Youth Leader, that seemed like a pretty easy feat. I was allotted one Wednesday night a month to plan a Personal Progress Activity. As I went back through the Personal Progress Book, and selected experiences for the girls to complete, I was amazed by how much I had missed when I had completed it myself. As a seventeen-year-old BYU-lover, I had not taken the program seriously. Although the Lord blessed me with getting so much out of the program, I realized I could have gotten so much more. Helping the girls truly deepened my love for Personal Progress. I saw how the experiences and projects helped one to become more like Christ, develop a testimony, create good habits, know who you are, and develop a relationship with our Savior and Heavenly Father.
I was also able to develop a deeper love for my sweet girls. As I laughed with them, studied with them, and learned a ton from them, I began to love them more and more. It brought me so much joy to see their testimonies growing in the Gospel. I hope in the midst of all of those activities, they truly learned how amazing they are, and how loved they are by their Savior and Heavenly Father.
A Desire To Become Better
This gift from above was one I did not see coming. In all of the craziness of planning and preparing activities, Personal Progress gave me a desire to become more like Christ. Although I didn’t really see the changes as they were happening, (I mean, they were pretty small) I truly believe I have become a better person over the last six months. This is due in part to another requirement in the Honor Bee process, completing at least forty hours of service. As a youth, that requirement would have sparked major dread and eyerolls. However, this time around, the service opportunities seemed so easy to complete. I wanted to be less selfish. I wanted to be more Christlike. I wanted to help others know His love. I wanted to make others happy. These are not normal Negative (N)ellie traits, y’all! I can see a tangible change in my attitude and demeanor, and although I didn’t realize it at the time, I believe that Personal Progress helped to spark this change in me.
Another Witness
Although each of these changes and gifts have been monumental, and have been received with a truly grateful heart, this one takes the cake for me. To earn your Honor Bee, one must reread the Book of Mormon. Completing this task the first time was one of my favorite aspects of Personal Progress (if you’d like to read about that experience, click here). Surprisingly, I did not give this assignment the correct amount of attention this time around. I may or may not have put it off until the last minute and was cramming in as many chapters as I could before that December 31st deadline. However, the fact that I went about this requirement the entirely wrong way did not change the impact it had one me. As I studied the Book of Mormon, I was happier! It helped to change my attitude, it comforted me in the hard times, and it truly drew me to Christ. It gave me an even deeper desire to become more like Him. Throughout my entire rereading of the Book of Mormon, I could not deny its power. The Book of Mormon truly is the word of God. It is another testament of Jesus Christ, and reading it will give one the desire to become more like Him. I know with all of my heart that the Book of Mormon is true.
Do you want to know why this was my favorite requirement? After receiving and adding my bee charm to my medallion, I held it in my fingers, and realized something pretty incredible. I will always have two tangible objects that represent my testimony of the Book of Mormon. To receive both of those objects, I had to read the Book of Mormon, and each time I received a personal testimony of its truthfulness. No matter what trials I go through in life, or when times of questioning God comes, I cannot look at that necklace without feeling in my heart the things I have learned to be true.
So, in a final ode to Personal Progress, I would like to say “thank you”. Thank you for helping me to develop my own testimony. Thank you for helping me to learn my value as a Daughter of God. Thank you for giving me opportunities to bond with my fellow Young Women in the past, my present Young Women now, my fellow leaders, and Mamma Mia. Thank you for helping me to become better. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I will truly miss you. The new Youth program has a lot to live up to, but I know that just like you, it will help bring me closer to Christ.