I already wrote once about Pres. Uchtdorf’s talk given in the General Women’s Meeting, but I feel to address it a second time.  He talked about achieving happiness and he used two ways to get there:  Creating and being Compassionate.  I would like to dissect the “Creating” part of his talk.
First of all he says “everyone can create.  We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty.”  He told us that we “are spirit daughters of the most creative Being in the universe.  We were created with the express purpose and potential of experiencing a fullness of joy.  Our birthright—and the purpose of our great voyage on this earth—is to seek and experience eternal happiness.  One of the ways we find this is by creating things.”
How do we incorporate this into our lives and the Relief Society?
In the Woman’s Exponent I came across this little article:
The most perfect home I ever saw was in a little house into the sweet incense of whose fires went no costly things.  A thousand dollars served for a year’s living of father, mother and three children.  But the mother was the creator of the home; her relation with her children was the most beautiful I have ever seen; even a dull and commonplace man was lifted up and enabled to do good work for souls by the atmosphere which this woman created; every inmate of her house involuntarily looked into her face for the key-note of the day; and it always rang clear.  From the rose-bud or cloverleaf; which, in spite of her hard house-work, she always found time to put by our plates at breakfast, down to the very story she had on hand to be read in the evening, there was no intermission of her influence.  She has always been and always will be my ideal of a mother, wife, home-maker.  If to her quick brain, loving heart and exquisite face had been added the appliance of wealth and the enlargements of a wider culture, here would have been the ideal of home.  As it was, it was the best I have ever see.—Helen Hunt, May 15, 1874
We, the women of our homes (whether there are men or children in the household or not), are the creators of our environment.  Let’s be honest, when a man lives alone, the place is either a pigsty, or a home without heart.  Am I right?  It is the woman that is capable of bringing that home to an emotional level radiating comfort and love.  That is our innate ability to create; not to mention our innate responsibility to provide a cherished home for our loved ones.  It is that innate ability that allows us to expand and develop and enrich the lives of those around us in the very best way.
As women in the Relief Society, sometimes we like to do “what is safe” rather than “what is right”.  For presidents, this tends to be a burden.  You want all the sisters to be happy, so it is easier to provide the surefire techniques that have always been done in your ward.  I knew a RS president who changed up all the visiting teaching (a rather ambitious, daring move).  One of the older sisters threatened to go to the Bishop in order to get her visiting teaching sisters back.  There was a huge uproar in the system.  Same problems with RS overnighters, Super Saturdays, cookie exchanges, other such traditions that CAN NOT be touched. 
Sometimes, we shoot ourselves, or our society, in the foot by limiting creativity.  A failed attempt at creativity brings in bitterness and other such feelings of failure.  An avoidance of trying something new, becomes stagnant.  Tradition sets in and there is no other way to do things.  As I recall, “the tradition of our [mothers]” was a bad thing in the Book of Mormon.
Pres. Uchtdorf has just counseled us to be creative.  That is a gentle reminder to go to the Lord and find out what the real needs of our sisters are and come up with a program that will fulfill those needs.  It’s going to be quite different from what has always been done, but in the long run it will be a better, more fulfilling thing.  Above all, it will have the blessing of the Lord behind it. 
Have you ever experienced this before?  A situation comes up where there doesn’t seem to be any easy solution, without hurting feelings, without causing an uproar, without overhauling an entire program.  You just don’t know what to do and you go to the Lord with it.  While you are in the very act of praying about this “huge” problem, the answer comes softly and quietly.  As you sit and think about this new idea, still on your knees, more ideas begin flooding through you.  Suddenly the excitement is too much for you to bear.  You interrupt your prayer, with a hurried Thank You, and write everything down before you forget.  There, before your eyes is the act of creation presented to you by the Lord himself, for your particular need.  Let it happen to you, no matter what your calling is, no matter what responsibilities you have to bear, no matter what.  This gift is yours. 
When a sister has a new idea, support her in it.  Too many times I have seen tradition win and the act of creation lose.  One brainstorming idea can blossom into an array of beautiful ideas that will help individuals.  And when we help one, we help many.
“The more you trust and rely upon the Spirit, the greater your capacity to create.”  Pres. Uchtdorf  says.   Our destiny is to improve not only the world around us but the world within us.  We can change our situations, our problems, our struggles, our hearts, by creatively seeking answers.
Can I just mention another little thought?  Satan is not creative.  Nor does he have the power to create.  He copies, he counterfeits, he steals, he twists, he manipulates, he robs, he imitates.  Man recognizes that Satan is tempting, and sometimes even exciting, and always easy, and gives Satan credit for what does not belong to him.
Give credit where credit is due.  God is the father of creation; by being one of His creations, we are allowed access to this incredible gift.  Let us expand, share, enjoy, uplift and build new wherever we are and in whatever we are doing.  As long as we are in the mindset of helping others, God will bring us success.