The Sego Lily

As some of you may know, The Relief Society's, as well as the State of Utah's, chosen flower is the Sego Lily. I chose this as the main picture for our blog, at least for the time being, for a few reasons. As I looked up pictures of the Sego Lily on google to find a good picture to put on our blog, I felt like all I was finding were unattractive tiny flowers in the middle of some dirt. If you google the flower, you'll probably find something similar looking. I wasn't realizing at the time, however, the simple significance to this tender beauty. Why would the Relief Society women choose this small bud to be known as "their flower?" Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that Utah is very mountainous and deserted, and the Sego Lily grows well in these conditions. By only looking at it this way, though, I completely missed something very unique that came to my attention. In a way, we women of the Church are kind of like these Sego Lilies. We bloom wherever we are planted, we flourish in harsh environments, and we bring simple, needed beauty to our "barren" surroundings. In effect, we, the women of the Church, take the harsh conditions around us and make them into something beautiful simply because of our presence in applying the things we know to be true. Sego Lilies lives are short, even as our precious lives on this earth are short compared to eternity, but these flowers add magnificent splendor throughout the duration of their lives. As we continue to thrive on the Living Water for our support, just as the Lily needs water for nourishment, others will see how we make use of our time here, and we will be lights and delights to them. Our influence may be ever so slight, just as the Sego Lily's beauty can be taken for granted, but the difference is seen by many. Our Heavenly Father sees and knows the goodness that we bring with us, and He hopes we will and loves when we "bloom where we are planted" in the best ways possible.