The Lily Letters

Christmas is just 8 days away!  It is hard to believe this year went by so fast! I want to share a passage I taught my two year-old Sunday School class this week.  The scripture is Luke 2 :8-20: Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.  And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.  Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.  For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be the sign to you: You will find the Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”  And suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”  So it was, when the a...

     When I led my first meeting as sorority president, as most presidents can attest, one word could describe me: TERRIFIED. 30 girls sat in Bate 108 at ECU, staring at me. The only words that I could think to say at the time were “Guys, we gotta be more God, less sorority”.   Sure we knew each other individually, each other’s strengths and weaknesses, but did we act on them? No. Did we hold each other accountable for our faults? Not all the time. Did we even know what those greek letters across our chest meant other than the greek words? We like to think so. Were we sick of “meeting requirements and paying dues?” Sometimes. Do I personally regret any time spent in the sorority as an active sister. NOT ONE BIT.         People can tell you all the time that you go to college to get an education and become something, right? What do we want to be? Teachers. Nurses. Business women. In the grand scheme of life, does any of what we become actually...

As long as I (Meghan) have been in SAO, Ovarian Cancer Awareness has been our philanthropy.  So I would paint my nails teal, go to the percentage nights, change my facebook picture, and post the flyers during September. But the passion would go no deeper than my fingernails. I've never known anyone with Ovarian Cancer and didn't really understand why we would decide on a cancer that hardly anyone has heard of, one that would cause puzzled looks when we told them what our fundraiser was going to. A few weeks ago I volunteered, as I had before, at the Georgia Ovarian Cancer Alliance's Teal Trot 5K with some fellow SAO alumna. For the first time, I realized what it meant to have OCA as our philanthropy. Being infamously early as I am, I was the first volunteer on site outside of those working for the organization, so as I helped one of the workers set up chairs, he asked why I was volunteering.  "Well, my sorority's national philanthropy is Ovarian Cancer Awarenes...

We asked Sisters by Grace Foundation, our sister charitable organization, to share a few announcements with you all as a guest blogpost this month! Read up and share with friends and family to gain support for the cause! The Sisters By Grace Foundation was established in 2013 to cultivate the spiritual, academic, professional, and social growth of mature Christian women, specifically the sisters of Sigma Alpha Omega®. In other words, we are an organization for sisters, by sisters! We have hosted fundraisers, scholarship opportunities, and photo contests as activities that pursue our vision of fostering the personal growth of the sisters of SAO. Over the past year, we have organized several fundraising efforts, including a Yankee Candle Fundraiser last fall, the Penny Uprising that took place at the 2014 Sigma Alpha Omega® Convention, and most recently, a Founding Donor Drive letter campaign. Together, these fundraisers have raised over $500 thus far for the Sisters By Grace ...

Hello sisters, friends, and family! We are so excited that all of our chapters are jumping into the Fall 2014 Semester at their respective campuses. We have grown so much and are now currently at 33 active chapters nationwide ! It's taken a lot of hard work and prayer to get where we are today, and many hands have helped lift up this ministry to make it what it is today. While we have so much to be proud of, we have a lot more work to do. This year at our Fall 2014 National Planning Summit in Richmond, Virginia, the National Board of Trustees established their short-term vision themes for this year: Sustainability and Efficiency. Formerly, the National Organization's vision themes for the past two years were: Maintenance and Investment. We believe these served us well, but our direction has refined and changed, while still upholding our mission and vision as a sisterhood. Indeed, the old and new themes seem similar, but I, as Sigma Alpha Omega's National President, want...

One of the things that we hear more often than not is that we must guard our ears, eyes, and heart from earthly things.  To an extent that is true; however, we have to acknowledge that pop-culture is everywhere!  We are inundated with images and words that are not necessarily "Christian."  So what's a girl to do?   The answer?   Use it to our advantage, of course!   Check out this YouTube video.  Then read this scripture.  The music video and Proverbs 31:25 actually mesh well together and could be a positive message for us to come back to again and again, especially when we get down in the trenches of all of the not-so-fun stuff.  Proverbs 31:25 says, “She is clothed in strength and dignity, she laughs without fear of the future” (Or “she laughs at the days to come” depending on the version you use).  But I think that this verse requires a little bit of context.  Obviously we are looking at ...

For those who have been with Sigma Alpha Omega for a while, you know that it has been a long time coming that we change our webmail server, and for years we've hoped to migrate to Google. Finally, as of this past month, we have made the change--all chapters, national regional mentors, and board members now have Google accounts under the @sigmaalphaomega.org domain! Our website (which was also updated this summer) now has all current email addresses listed for you to reach us. With Google, we can now also better protect documents with those within the "sigmaalphaomega.org" domain in Drive, though all sisters can access our Directory of Resources, past Dove Love issues, and more in the password protected portion of our website. As we transition, we thank all of you for your patience and cooperation during this time. A lot of data is still being migrated and will likely continue to be migrated into the academic year. Should you have issues, please contact president@sigm...

Successful organizations understand the power of branding themselves for quick and easy recognition. Sigma Alpha Omega currently does not have a logo for our organization, so we thought we' d ask the best ideas-person we know...YOU! All ideas for logos must be submitted before 5/3/2014 to president@sigmaalphaomega.org with the subject “LOGO ENTRY”. Your entry must include the following to be considered: 1 ) A concept explanation – This means you describe in detail what your idea is 2 ) A concept rendering – This means you supply a visual representation of your concept. Don't worry! You do not need to be a graphic artist! DISCLAIMER: Should your concept be our next logo, we will find experts to create multiple renderings for us to select our favorite from there. Quick Facts and Tips to help you in your “brainstorming”: -our official colors are burgundy and forest green -our mascot is the dove -our flower is the lily -our Bible...

Sharing the Gospel is a necessary part of the life of the transformed Christ-follower. We've been saved! Why not share immediately? A lot of what prevents people from sharing the Gospel is that the Gospel in its corrupted form has already been "heard" and "seen" by those in our culture. Many have both positive and negative reactions to Jesus, the Bible, and Christianity. The goal of SAO's "Wear-the-Word Wednesday" is to encourage our chapters to engage in a positive form of evangelism with their community. This year, #WWWednesday is inspired by the theme "God is Love" and the verse 1 John 4:7, "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God" (NIV). The 2014 colors for #WWWednesday are lime green and pink ! Our chapters (and alumnae and friends, too) are challenged to share creative expressions of this theme and idea on THIS Wednesday, March 26th. It...

Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. - Isaiah 1:17 National Service Week is a chapter-wide event that Sigma Alpha Omega participates in every year. The goal of this week is for your chapter to participate in activities of service in your community and campuses along with your other sisters all across the country. National Service week will take place during the 2nd week of February every year. Our chapters are required to complete: -1 Week-long Service Event -5 Daily service projects (one per day) -1 National Service Week Participation Sheet There are a variety of creative and practical ways to serve your campuses and communities but this year we have some unique ideas! If you have an idea to share, please email vicepresident@sigmaalphaomega.org or your local chapter. UNIQUE SERVICE IDEAS Blessing Bags: Fill a plastic zip-lock bag with small items from the travel section at Wal-mart. Portable deod...

I encourage SAO sisters and non-sisters to flood theaters on February 28th as Son of God premieres nationwide. An extenuation of the popular The Bible series on the History channel, Son of God tells the miraculous story of Jesus Christ's time on Earth. Produced by Mark Burnett ( Survivor, The Voice ) and wife Roma Downey ( Touched by An Angel, The Bible ), Son of God is a faith-based film that not only shares Jesus' life from birth to death, but also into his divine resurrection. What does this man's life mean to us as the human race? Help others find out February 28th! Suggested Facebook status: From producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, @Son of God brings the story of Jesus Christ to theaters February 28th! http://bit.ly/SonofGodTrailer #SonofGod #SigmaAlphaOmega Suggested Twitter tweet: @MarkBurnettTV & @realfomadowney announce the @SonofGod in theaters 2/28/14, Share: http://bit.ly/SonofGodTrailer With Love, @SAO4Christ