More proof that I’d have made a terrible Mormon woman
I can’t offer you a hazing of the priesthood session, for obvious reasons, but while it’s been going on I did go back and read all four of the talks from last weekend’s Young Women general meeting, simply because I needed further confirmation of what a terrible Mormon woman I’d be.
The first talk was by Ann M. Dibb, the Second Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency. She spoke about Sister Kathy Andersen, the wife of Neil L. Andersen, which I suppose should have been our clue that he was going to be the new apostle. Dibb relays the story of what Andersen did when she got her first Beehive Girl’s Handbook:
“I discovered that there were 80 possible goals to choose from. In my excitement, I determined that if I worked hard, I could complete all of the goals in my book—well, all except one: to go to the temple . . . and be baptized for the dead (Beehive Girl’s Handbook, 140). I [could not] be baptized for the dead because there [was] no temple in Florida.Sister Andersen decided to tell her father about her situation. Her letter continues:“My father hesitated only a moment. We had no family in the West and no other reason to travel to Utah. He thoughtfully said to me, ‘Kathy, if you [will] complete all of the other goals in your Beehive book, we will take you the 2,500 miles [4,000 km] to the temple in Salt Lake City so that you can do baptisms for the dead and complete your final goal.’“I worked on the goals in my Beehive book for two years and completed 79 goals. My father worked during those two years to save enough money to make the journey to the temple. My father kept his promise to me.“Air travel at that time was too expensive for our family, and so we traveled 5,000 miles [8,000 km] by car to Salt Lake City and back so that I could complete my last Beehive goal. What joy I felt as I entered the Salt Lake Temple and in proxy was baptized by my father. It was an experience I will never forget.
Wait a second… there were 80 freakin’ things in this handbook for a young woman to do and the moral of the story is that Andersen worked really hard and was able to do all of them?
This is why people are easily able to caricature Mormons for being too works-oriented.
From Elaine S. Dalton, Young Women General President:
You are daughters of God. You carry within yourselves the sacred power to create life. It is one of God’s greatest gifts to His precious daughters, and you must safeguard that power by living the standards and remaining virtuous. You must safeguard your power through purity of thought and action. By so doing, you, your family, and the generations that follow will be strengthened and blessed.
I not a big fan of all the LDS emphasis on motherhood and a woman’s power being tied in directly to her ability to incubate babies. I certainly believe it’s a noble thing to be a mother and that there are women who are truly gifted at working with children, but I’ve studied Mormonism long enough to know that there are many Latter-day Saints out there who earnestly believe that motherhood is the complement to priesthood. This excerpt from Dalton isn’t directly saying that, but it can certainly be used to support the idea.
And why don’t I believe motherhood is some sort of special power that women have? I always liked this passage in the gospel of Luke 11:27-28
As [Jesus] said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
As Glenn Miller observed (quoting Apology to Women by Ann Brown, p. 151), “Jesus refused to sentimentalize motherhood. The most important fact about any woman is her response to the gospel.” If not sentimentalizing motherhood was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for me.
Then Dalton told this story:
When I was a young woman, my Young Women leaders had each of us choose a symbol that would represent the life that we would live and what we would strive to become as daughters of God. We then stitched these symbols onto our bandlos—which were fabric sashes that we wore. These bandlos were our personal banners to the world! I chose the symbol of a white rose because roses become more and more beautiful as they grow and blossom, and I chose the color white for purity. I encourage each of you to ponder what your personal banner would be if you could give one message to the world.
How delightful! What personal banner would I choose to give a message to the world? That’s easy.
And what message does that send?
My color would be black of course, because black looks good on any woman, plus it hides stains and imperfections better than any color in the world.
Later, Dalton says:
Last year when I was called to be the Young Women general president, as I was leaving President Monson’s office, he reached over to a bouquet of white roses, took one from the vase, and handed it to me. The moment he handed me that beautiful white rose, I knew why. I went back to the time when, as a young woman, I chose the white rose as my symbol of purity—my personal banner. How did President Monson know?
So if I’d been called as Young Women general president, I can just picture it now. I’m about to leave President Monson’s office when he says, “Sister Meyers,” and as I turn around to face him, a BATARANG flies past me and sticks in the door next to my head! And I say, “Wow, President Monson, how did you know that was my symbol of virtue??”
See, I’d be a terrible Mormon woman.
Finally, from Monson’s talk:
True love can alter human lives and change human nature.
On this we completely agree.
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More proof that I’d have made a terrible Mormon woman — 9 Comments