Relief Society Lesson - Reflections on a Consecrated Life

These are just the visual aids I used in my lesson today. I am not including all of the quotes I used, or Scriptures. I guess I'm just feeling lazy and don't want to go retrieve them and paste them on here. But this will give you an idea of what my lesson was about.

Reflections on a Consecrated Life
Elder D. Todd Christofferson
October 2010 General Conference

Our life on earth is a stewardship of time and choices granted by our Creator.

To consecrate is to set apart or dedicate something as sacred, devoted to holy purposes.

True success in this life comes in consecrating our lives—that is, our time and choices—to God’s purposes.

Five of the elements of a consecrated life:
1. Purity
2. Work
3. Respect for one’s physical body
4. Service
5. Integrity

1. Purity
Consecration therefore means repentance. Stubbornness, rebellion, and rationalization must be abandoned, and in their place submission, a desire for correction, and acceptance of all that the Lord may require.

2. Work
God has designed this mortal existence to require nearly constant exertion.

Work builds and refines character, creates beauty, and is the instrument of our service to one another and to God.

3. Respect for one’s physical body
“We would certainly not deface our body, as with tattoos; or debilitate it, as with drugs; or defile it, as with fornication, adultery, or immodesty.” -Thomas S. Monson

As our body is the instrument of our spirit, it is vital that we care for it as best we can.

4. Service
Those who quietly and thoughtfully go about doing good offer a model of consecration.

5. Integrity
Integrity is not naiveté. What is naive is to suppose that we are not accountable to God.