I’ve selected what I think are the greatest concerns we, as women of the church, should be focusing on. I realize this is a bold statement and I welcome any additions to this list. But if you agree with me, please comment and share your experiences. I am posting them as separate goals, and they are not in any particular order, because I feel they are all equally important.
GOAL #1 OUR HEARTS BELONG TO, AND MUST PROMOTE, STRONG MARRIAGES AND STRONG MOTHERS
Worldly marriages are not safe. Domestic violence has reached a high in our society. It is up to us, as women of God, to bring sanctity back into marriage and family…because who else understands the need for it as much as we do?
We must learn how to love our husbands. This is a concept not taught anywhere. If you were lucky enough to have grown up in a loving home, it is your responsibility to share your experience with others. Relief Society is the place to do this. If you grew up in a dysfunctional home, all is not lost. It is possible to relearn better ways of seeing things, feeling things, and doing things. It takes an open heart, lots of prayer, diligence, and love.
We must be our children’s teachers. This is a job not to be shouldered by anyone else. It is our responsibility, as covenant mothers, to raise our children unto the Lord. The world is a mighty influence, but the Spirit of the Lord is stronger. We have all the rights, keys, and blessings to function as gods and goddesses in our own homes; thus our princes and princesses must be trained and qualified for glory.
All of us should be regularly holding Family Prayer, Family Scripture Reading, and Family Home Evening with our families. It is the Priesthood’s responsibility to see that they happen, but it is the Relief Society’s responsibility to support and sometimes remind.
Societal remedies will come from God-centered homes. Strong families, with loving couples at the helm, will bring safety, happiness, and love back into our culture.
The Relief Society is not just a Sunday lesson. It is a factory where training can occur. We are each other’s teachers. We are each other’s support group. We have been urged by our leaders to generate activities—not for entertainment purposes—but to become better people as we prepare for our eternal futures.
This goal would also include homemaking skills, which I think we have overdone over the years. Our emphasis should not be on having the best decorated home (or at least one that has the same crafts as every other house) on the block. Our emphasis should be on proper care and cleanliness techniques. And most importantly, these skills should be taught to our young women. The Relief Society can do much in the way of teaching our young women homemaking, parenting, and marriage skills.
My husband and I had a difficult evening over Christmas break in which a number of things went wrong, misunderstandings happened, impatience, discouragement with each other, and annoyance, and blame. We were so frustrated with each other.
Somehow I managed to keep from yelling. Somehow I even managed to keep from snapping. And gradually I began asking questions about why my husband did what he did. I wanted to understand his reasoning. Once I made sure I understood what he was thinking and feeling, I told him how I was affected by what he said and what I thought about what he did and explained to him why I acted the way I did. Eventually we learned why we both reacted the way we did and understood how circumstances had combined to make things more difficult for us. And at the very end, we resolved together to forgive each other and to start the evening over as if what had happened had never happened.
And the rest of the evening was great; we were careful to be kind and thoughtful of each other, and the effects of the resolution seems to have improved our relationship since that night.
I have no doubt that were given a portion of God’s grace to overcome our differences that evening.
I really appreciate this post. It’s true that we don’t do a good enough job (in general) loving our husbands or teaching our children the most important things. I just found this blog today and liked everything I read!