Because sometimes my blog is a good Soap Box!
Since my last post things are looking up. I'm calling my attitude "cautiously optimistic!" I kinda feel like Gargamel on the Smurf's when I say that though. Chris came home last Thursday (L's birthday) and has been doing good. He still has 2 drains that we have to empty and maintain but he is eating solid food and getting better. I'm scared to even write that he's getting better because I completely believe in the law of the jinx...I'm afraid to jinx things!
One thing has been nagging on my mind since this whole thing started (Chris being in the hospital). I think it started nagging at me because I had too much time on my hands to read articles, pro and con, and even visit a few websites to do some research. First let me say that this is completely my opinion and it's what I observed and felt and experienced at a time in my life when I was basically a "single" mom. It's the subject of Women in the Priesthood. When Chris was first admitted to the hospital all the hoopla was going on in the news about a certain prominent person on a certain website designed to support the ordination of women in the Priesthood was being excommunicated. Now I'm not here to put anyone down or pass judgement on anyone's views because having views different from mine is exactly what is supposed to happen in this world. That is why Heavenly Father has given us all free agency and he didn't just let Satan take over and make us all think and believe alike or be damned. I also say "hoopla" because in my opinion things like excommunication and personal worthiness to perform or not perform ordinances in the church are and should be completely private. They are nobody's business except your own and your Bishop/Stake President and God himself.
Now here's my opinion on the matter...The Priesthood is for Men...MEN. Women have so much responsibility in the church and in families that I believe Heavenly Father has placed the Priesthood responsibility on the men for a very good reason, so that they are HELD responsible for those things. I am very lucky to have a husband that is completely willing to share in the household/child rearing duties in our home, but I know a lot of women that have husbands that are not as keen to doing those things or need a lot of extra nudging in those areas. When it comes to Priesthood keys and ordinances it seems like they really put the pressure and responsibility on themselves, they motivate each other to get those things done and they have lessons and conferences and devotionals all about how important it is to keep up with those responsibilities.
There came a time this summer (actually the whole time) when I needed the priesthood. My kids were going back to school and the night before I realized that we had not done the traditional "back to school father's blessings". Each of my older kids came to me at some point that day and asked about the blessing because it does give them so much comfort starting a new school year. It was late, like 6pm, Chris was in Peoria (45 minutes away), and I was tired from having already driven there once that day. I didn't have any gas money to get there again, and we hadn't even eaten our dinner yet. There was this HUGE part of me that wanted to just have the Priesthood myself so I could just bless all my children and go to bed! It was then that I realized that it was not Heavenly Father's plan for me to do that. I needed to humble myself and either ask our Home Teacher to do this service for us, or ask to borrow some gas money from my daughter and text my sick husband and get his opinion on the whole thing. So I did the latter. I texted Chris and he immediately told me to bring him the children and he would do the blessings himself in his hospital room.
So off we trek to Peoria at 7pm and the blessings that he gave our children were amazing. The best part was I got one too and I slept that night for 6 straight hours! The most I had slept in a stretch the entire time he had been sick.
I guess the point of my post is this...would it have been convenient for me to just be able to bless my children that night and get to bed at a decent hour, sure. If I held the priesthood would it have been just as meaningful a blessing as one that a man could have given, sure. The question is not, am I equal or as blessed as a male priesthood holder, the question is am I humble enough to ask for help, to let others serve me, to make sacrifices for my family, to inconvenience myself and step out of my comfort zone and let the power of the Priesthood that Heavenly Father has set and planned for us all to be used in the way he intended it to be used? That's the point. Sometimes, a lot of times, it's hard to follow the commandments when the world is telling us that things should be a different way, but we follow them anyway. The Word of Wisdom doesn't teach us not to drink alcohol unless everyone else is doing it and we want to be equal. The law of Chastity isn't given to obey unless all of our friends are having relations with people they are not married to, and we don't want to be different. Just bearing the name "Mormon" or "LDS" makes us different and we need to embrace that. In time we will understand God's time table and see that He was right...HE IS RIGHT! It's not always easy or convenient but in the end even when things aren't going right, He is right.
One thing has been nagging on my mind since this whole thing started (Chris being in the hospital). I think it started nagging at me because I had too much time on my hands to read articles, pro and con, and even visit a few websites to do some research. First let me say that this is completely my opinion and it's what I observed and felt and experienced at a time in my life when I was basically a "single" mom. It's the subject of Women in the Priesthood. When Chris was first admitted to the hospital all the hoopla was going on in the news about a certain prominent person on a certain website designed to support the ordination of women in the Priesthood was being excommunicated. Now I'm not here to put anyone down or pass judgement on anyone's views because having views different from mine is exactly what is supposed to happen in this world. That is why Heavenly Father has given us all free agency and he didn't just let Satan take over and make us all think and believe alike or be damned. I also say "hoopla" because in my opinion things like excommunication and personal worthiness to perform or not perform ordinances in the church are and should be completely private. They are nobody's business except your own and your Bishop/Stake President and God himself.
Now here's my opinion on the matter...The Priesthood is for Men...MEN. Women have so much responsibility in the church and in families that I believe Heavenly Father has placed the Priesthood responsibility on the men for a very good reason, so that they are HELD responsible for those things. I am very lucky to have a husband that is completely willing to share in the household/child rearing duties in our home, but I know a lot of women that have husbands that are not as keen to doing those things or need a lot of extra nudging in those areas. When it comes to Priesthood keys and ordinances it seems like they really put the pressure and responsibility on themselves, they motivate each other to get those things done and they have lessons and conferences and devotionals all about how important it is to keep up with those responsibilities.
There came a time this summer (actually the whole time) when I needed the priesthood. My kids were going back to school and the night before I realized that we had not done the traditional "back to school father's blessings". Each of my older kids came to me at some point that day and asked about the blessing because it does give them so much comfort starting a new school year. It was late, like 6pm, Chris was in Peoria (45 minutes away), and I was tired from having already driven there once that day. I didn't have any gas money to get there again, and we hadn't even eaten our dinner yet. There was this HUGE part of me that wanted to just have the Priesthood myself so I could just bless all my children and go to bed! It was then that I realized that it was not Heavenly Father's plan for me to do that. I needed to humble myself and either ask our Home Teacher to do this service for us, or ask to borrow some gas money from my daughter and text my sick husband and get his opinion on the whole thing. So I did the latter. I texted Chris and he immediately told me to bring him the children and he would do the blessings himself in his hospital room.
So off we trek to Peoria at 7pm and the blessings that he gave our children were amazing. The best part was I got one too and I slept that night for 6 straight hours! The most I had slept in a stretch the entire time he had been sick.
I guess the point of my post is this...would it have been convenient for me to just be able to bless my children that night and get to bed at a decent hour, sure. If I held the priesthood would it have been just as meaningful a blessing as one that a man could have given, sure. The question is not, am I equal or as blessed as a male priesthood holder, the question is am I humble enough to ask for help, to let others serve me, to make sacrifices for my family, to inconvenience myself and step out of my comfort zone and let the power of the Priesthood that Heavenly Father has set and planned for us all to be used in the way he intended it to be used? That's the point. Sometimes, a lot of times, it's hard to follow the commandments when the world is telling us that things should be a different way, but we follow them anyway. The Word of Wisdom doesn't teach us not to drink alcohol unless everyone else is doing it and we want to be equal. The law of Chastity isn't given to obey unless all of our friends are having relations with people they are not married to, and we don't want to be different. Just bearing the name "Mormon" or "LDS" makes us different and we need to embrace that. In time we will understand God's time table and see that He was right...HE IS RIGHT! It's not always easy or convenient but in the end even when things aren't going right, He is right.
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