So during those moments of reflection this holiday season, I encourage us to reflect on what Phi Mu has really meant to our lives.  Perhaps you can see Phi Mu represented in the faces of your mother, cousins, aunts, grandmothers, and daughters.  When you see a college girl in the mall, wearing a Phi Mu shirt, you smile to yourself because you remember those days.  For you, Phi Mu may be kept in your heart and revealed at the most unique opportunities.  Perhaps you hear the lines of the Creed that urge you to ‘minister to the needy and unfortunate’ at a local soup kitchen.  For many of us, we are called to reflect on Phi Mu daily through a continued service to our Fraternity.
Many of my family and friends ask how I have time to serve as a chapter adviser in addition to my various other commitments.  It is without hesitation that I respond, “I make the time.”  No matter what else life has in store for me, advising this group of girls is my truest connection to the spirit of Phi Mu.  At my first job interview, the interviewer asked me to talk about the single event that shaped my college experience.  As I struggled not to cry, I told this group of strangers how my initiation into this prestigious bond of women changed me. Through my continued service as a chapter adviser and secretary of the local alumnae chapter, I am paying it forward for a new generation to share my experience.

The idea of ‘paying it forward’ is not a new concept.  Perhaps you have seen the movie, by the same name, in which a boy chooses three people’s lives to touch for the better – thus beginning a cycle of prosperity.  I am asking you this holiday season to truly consider paying it forward for the success of Phi Mu.  Your choices may look very different from mine and from other sisters, but that is okay. Below I have several ways that alumnae are paying it forward through Phi Mu everyday.  My hope is that you will choose three of these to complete during 2010.

• Update your contact information with the National Headquarters and encourage your friends to do the same.
• Join a local alumnae chapter by paying dues and attending at least two events this year.
• Purchase a new piece of jewelry from the Carnation Collection and wear it often.
• Contact a local collegiate chapter and ask if they need assistance with recruitment, a ritual event, or a study break program.
• Say the Creed every Monday morning after brushing your teeth.
• Make a financial contribution to the Phi Mu Foundation or your chapter directly.
• Volunteer to serve as a committee chairman or officer in your local alumnae chapter or chapter association.
• Write a recommendation for a new woman to join Phi Mu and submit it to the correct collegiate chapter.
• Volunteer your time or make a financial contribution to Children’s Miracle Network on behalf of Phi Mu.
• Dust off your Phi Mu photo album or scrapbook and share it with your family and friends.
• Wear your badge to work and tell others about how much your fraternity still means after all this time.
• Join Phi Mu Bloom and search for your sisters to catch-up on their lives.
• Stop to visit the National Headquarters on your way through Georgia, on your next car trip.
• Volunteer as a part of a local collegiate chapter advisory council.
• Get out your favorite photo from your collegiate days and frame it.  Then, display it in your family room where guests are sure to see it.
• Attend the 2010 Phi Mu National Convention in Phoenix, Arizona this summer!

No matter how many of these items you chose to embrace, or others that I might not have mentioned, please keep Phi Mu present in your life.  When I think of the concept of keeping our values present, I am reminded of Ebenezer Scrooge’s words, “You keep Christmas in your way, I will keep it in mine.”  What matters is that we choose to keep Phi Mu in our hearts and in our actions.  May the New Year bring peace, joy, and hope to your life and that of your loved ones.