Nobility of Womanhood

                    Families, communities, and nations are strengthened when men and women, boys and girls recognize the nobility of womanhood.  Girls and women are daughters of a loving Heavenly Father and as such should be treated as royalty rather than treated with abuse, disrespect, or as sexual objects.  Husbands, fathers, brothers, and sons who recognize the nobility of womanhood will show all girls and women proper love and respect. 

                    President Gordon B. Hinckley stood before the women of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in a general Relief Society meeting on September 23 1995.  After expressing "gratitude for the faithfulness and diligence of Latter-day Saint women - young an old, married and single, with children and without children," he gave us "encouragement, counsel and warning."

                    Near the end of his remarks, President Hinckley said, "With so much sophistry that is passed off as truth, with so much of deception concerning standards and values, with so much allurement and enticement to take on the slow stain of the world, we have felt to warn and forewarn.  In furtherance of this we of the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles now issue a proclamation to the Church and to the world as a declaration and reaffirmation of standards, doctrines, and practices relative to the family which the prophets, seers, and revelators of this church have repeatedly stated throughout its history." 

                    President Hinckley followed this statement by reading "The Family:  A Proclamationto the World."  As the title indicates, this truly was "A Proclamation to the World," and it reminded all people in all nations of the eternal importance of the family.  Copies of this proclamation were presented to many leaders of nations, states, and cities.

                    In a press conference in Tokyo, Japan, eight months later, President Hinckley said, "Why do we have this proclamation on the family now?  Because the family is under attack. All across the world families are falling apart.  The place to begin to improve society is in the home.  Children do, for the most part, what they are taught.  We are trying to make the world better by making the family stronger."

                    I was in the meeting when this proclamation was presented to the sisters, and I recognized at once that this statement of doctrine had meaning not only for the entire world but for individuals and families.  I was in awe of the plain-spoken words contained in the proclamation.  I knew that I was listening to a prophet of God. 

                    After reading the proclamation, President Hinckley showed his respect for the women of the Church as he explained why he had chosen to announce the proclamation in a general Relief Society meeting:  "You are the guardians of the hearth.  You are the bearers of the children.  You are they who nurture them and establish within them the habits of their lives.  No other work reaches so close to divinity as does the nurturing of the sons and daughters of God."

                    President James E. Faust, President Hinckley's second counselor explained further:  "Because you mothers are the heart and soul of any family, it was appropriate that it [the proclamation] was first read in the general Relief Society meetings."

                    The proclamation does not contain any new teachings; it simply reaffirms the ones already in place.  President Hinckley stated that they were a "reaffirmation of standards, doctrines, and practices" which had been "central to the Creator's plan" even before this earth was created.

                    Another prophet, President Spencer W. Kimball, explained the important place of women in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:  "To be a righteous woman during the winding up scenes on this earth, before the second coming of our Savior, is an especially noble calling.  … She has been placed here to help to enrich, to protect, and to guard the home - which is society's basic and most noble institution."

                    When men and boys treat women and girls with the love and respect that all daughters of God deserve, families, communities, and nations will be strengthened.

                     Facts and ideas for this essay came from Daughters in My Kingdom - The History and Work of Relief Society, pp. 145-150.

                     

Divine Role of Women

Our Father in Heaven has a plan that we might be happy. That plan has roles for His daughters as well as for His sons. Today I will write of the role of the daughters. "We have the female half to take care of, and if we don't do our part, no one else is going to do it for us. The half of our Father's plan that creates life, that nurtures souls, that promotes growth, that influences everything else was given to us. We can't delegate it. We can't pass it off to anyone. It's ours. We can refuse it, we can deny it, but it's still our part, and we're accountable for it. There will come a day when we will all remember what we knew before we were born. We will remember that we fought in a great conflict for this privilege. How do we meet this responsibility? We daily put our energies into the work that is uniquely ours to do" (Julie B. Beck, Relief Society general president, Ensign, Feb. 2009, 67). The basic purpose for the Creation of the earth was to provide bodies for God's spirit children. Mothers and fathers are very important to the work of God as they rear and teach their children, but all men and all women have roles to perform. Heavenly Father intended that men and women progress together to fulfill His plan. Males and females have distinctive temperaments and capacities and each brings unique perspectives and experiences to the relationship. Women have been blessed with divine attributes of love, compassion, kindness, and charity. Whether we are married, widowed, or single, we are required to use these attributes to bless Heavenly Father's children. No matter what our personal circumstances are, we all have opportunities to help and nurture others. The following quote is one of my favorites about women and the good that we have the capacity to perform. "To be a righteous woman during the winding up scenes on this earth, before the second coming of our Savior, is an especially noble calling. The righteous woman's strength and influence today can be tenfold what it might be in more tranquil times" (President Spencer W. Kimball, "Privileges and Responsibilities of Sisters," Ensign, Nov. 1978, 103).

Homemakers For America

I want to share a little information about a group that I just discovered today. I have searched their website and am impressed with what I see, impressed enough that I am going to do more research on them. As I read through the material on the website, I became more and more excited to know that there is a whole group of women feeling the same way I have been feeling and doing what they can to help families, communities, and our nation. I encourage you to embark on your own investigation of the group. Homemakers for America Inc, was founded on November 11, 2004, when twenty-seven women of all ages, religions, backgrounds and walks of life met together at the charter meeting in Dayton, Ohio. I will tell you a little about the group, but I encourage you to go to their website (www.homemakersforamerica.com) to gain a wider picture of what the women in this group are doing to help families, communities, and our nation: The mission for this group is "to foster an understanding, love, and respect for America's history and heritage, her founding principles and values, her legacy and destiny, and build a nation of informed citizens and devoted patriots one woman and one family at a time." The purpose "is to educate American women and their families on America's history and heritage, promote an understanding and respect for the U.S. Constitution and our founding documents of freedom, inspire an appreciation for our Founding Fathers and their families, cultivate a devotion to our symbols of freedom and allegiance to our citizenship, advance the principles of Liberty this nation was founded on, and teach and guide the women of America how to be actively involved as citizens in their homes, communities and the nation without sacrificing their families." The group is obviously well organized and has a solid foundation. The website listed the following ten goals for the group: "1. Educate and inform women of their power and potential to impact our nation and restore the values of God, Freedom and Family which America was founded on. 2. Educate women on how to become proactive on issues relating to God, Freedom and Family in their communities, their Nation and in their Homes. 3. Encourage every woman in America to read and know the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, to have copies in their homes and teach them to their children. 4. Teach and encourage respect for the flag, our founders, and our heritage and cultivate pride in our nation. 5. Support and promote free enterprise as our founding fathers envisioned, thus giving every woman and family the opportunity to provide for their needs and serve others. 6. Advocate our taxation with representation as accountable and responsible and encourage the elimination of unconstitutional spending of the taxpayers' money. 7. To give homemakers the tools they can use to promote value-based, honest, education of their children. 8. Provide the homemakers of America with a platform and outlet to address their concerns. 9. Provide information on elected officials and how to contact them and during election cycles, provide information on the candidates running and where they stand on the issues on a local, state and national level. 10. Build a large membership of women who are concerned for God, Freedom and Family and teach them how to influence and impact their communities and the nation without sacrificing their families. I am probably most impressed with the list of core beliefs for this group. As I read over the thirty core beliefs listed on the website, I saw many of my own beliefs on the written page. I didn't recognize any of the beliefs as being against my own core beliefs. Some of those core beliefs are: 1. "We believe all people are created by and in the image of God." 2. "We believe in the power of prayer and the importance of praying for our nation and its leaders regardless of their political party." 3. "We believe in being anxiously engaged in a good cause in our families, our communities, and our nation." 4. "We believe mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children and that mothers and fathers are to work together and help each other as equal partners." 5. "We believe that marriage is ordained of God and is to be between man and woman." There are many excellent quotes on the website including this one, "There is no doubt that it is around the family and the home that all the greatest virtues, the most dominating virtues of human society, are created, strengthened and maintained" (Winston Churchill, quoted by Homemakers For America).