So, what does Virtue mean, anyway?
In a recent Church News there are several articles discussing this value for the Young Women. It’s a good quality, but very broad, meaning many things. This is what I pulled out of all of the articles I read:
“Virtue is far more than moral cleanliness and chastity, although these are important manifestations. Virtue implies moral excellence – honor, integrity, courage, valor, valiance, inner purity, industry, diligence.” Each one of these descriptions are values, virtues and qualities in themselves.
Virtue implies faith: “the power to choose, practice and perfect our own faith in Christ over and over again.”
Virtue implies honesty: “being honest and upright in all things like Ammon and his brothers. (Alma 27)
Virtue implies chastity: “Learning to be steadfast when we are “despised” for striving to be virtuous.”
Virtue implies humility: “the desire to put God’s will first, and a willingness to be taught.”
Virtue implies self-discipline: Pres. Faust always said Idaho farm boys make the best missionaries, because they learn, at a young age, how to work hard.
We all need to take a scrubbing brush to our souls occasionally to scrub out impurities that have settled and hardened in the corners of our hearts. Since we all get stained and corrupted to a certain extent, maybe virtue becomes the scrubbing brush that brings back our shine.
Virtue also develops our grace: “we can acquire the attributes of godliness. A person filled with grace inspires others to emulate him or her.”
In this day and age, we must have courage if we are to stand for anything virtuous or of good report. Our choice must be vocal. Our stance must be one of defense. Morals don’t change, people do. We must defend the never changing laws of morals, decency, and truth.
We must teach diligently that there is a war going on and our youth are fighting on the front lines. There are casualties every day. There are victories every day. There are choices that must be made every day, again and again. But every time the right choices are made, we must encourage our youth to stand a little taller, be a little braver, testify a little louder, and put their faith in God. We are going to win! It is clear this is what our leaders are asking us to do with this new value.
“Sisters, shall we not go on in so great a cause: Go forward and not backward. Courage, sisters; and on, on to the victory!” (Doctrine and Covenants 128:22)
Check out Elaine S. Dalton’s talk in last General Conference, “A Return to Virtue”. What if Relief Society were to correlate with Young Women and focus on Virtue for part of the year as a goal, as a theme, to combine efforts and teach mothers along with their daughters, or mothers teaching their daughters. Activities could be devised to focus on ways to lift our virtue ratings in our homes.