Back in the 1970\u2019s, at the time Relief Society dues were dropped and the church consolidated its schedule, all women became instant members into the Relief Society upon baptism into the LDS Church.\u00a0 Before then, paid dues identified the choice each sister made as she accepted the responsibilities and opportunities a member of the Relief Society enjoyed.\u00a0 Also back then, every sister eagerly paid her dues and even many non-member sisters paid knowing it was a beneficial program she was involving herself in.<\/p>\n
Times have changed.\u00a0 With the new schedule women were required to double up on their responsibilities.\u00a0 As a member of the Relief Society, a sister would, on occasion, have to miss her Sunday meeting if she had a calling in the Primary or Young Women.\u00a0 Over the years it has been interesting to see the reaction of this sacrifice made by various sisters.\u00a0 Many sisters don\u2019t seem to mind.\u00a0 They enjoy their calling and don\u2019t really miss Relief Society.\u00a0 Other sisters become a little bitter if they are \u201cstuck\u201d in a calling that takes them away from their Relief Society.\u00a0 But there is more to just Sunday meetings, and having a calling in another auxiliary does not exempt you.<\/p>\n
Age is apparently a large factor in the Relief Society structure.\u00a0 Old women are either quitting (saying they have already done enough), or feeling left out, because no one seems to need them anymore.\u00a0 And on a similar ground, young women are not interested, because they love the Young Women too much to leave it, they believe Relief Society is for old fogies, or they tend to take over, thinking the younger generation needs to let the older generation off the hook.\u00a0 Whatever happened to pooling our intelligence together?\u00a0 Why aren\u2019t the older sisters coaching and befriending the younger sisters?\u00a0 And why aren\u2019t the younger sisters recognizing that Young Women\u2019s is a preparation for Relief Society-which is the true goal, the ultimate sisterhood.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n
Boyd K. Packer said, “You must graduate from thinking that you only attend Relief Society to feeling that you belong to it!” When something is a part of your life, you make time for it, you believe in it and it is an important identity to your persona.\u00a0 In 1973, the youngest member of the Relief Society General Board was twenty-one year old Kristin Theurer.\u00a0 She said, \u201cIt\u2019s silly to talk about a generation gap in the gospel, because, basically, we\u2019re all working for the same end\u2014eternal life.\u201d (Taken from Women of Covenant)<\/p>\n
In what ways should we be looking at this challenge?\u00a0 How do we demonstrate love and acceptance to incoming sisters-YW, new move-ins, visitors, anyone?\u00a0 How does a mother relate to her own daughters?\u00a0 As the daughters grow, there is a point of companionship and equality, and even when daughters need to step in to hold up and support their mothers, there is love, respect and admiration.\u00a0 What good is arriving at the goal if we go separately?\u00a0 It\u2019s so much more fun and gratifying working together, using one another\u2019s skills, and enjoying one another\u2019s unique personalities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Back in the 1970\u2019s, at the time Relief Society dues were dropped and the church consolidated its schedule, all women became instant members into the Relief Society upon baptism into the LDS Church.\u00a0 Before then, paid dues identified the choice each sister made as she accepted the responsibilities and opportunities a member of the Relief […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[484],"tags":[77],"class_list":["post-39","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-relief-society-challenge-ideas","tag-unity"],"yoast_head":"\n