Parable of the Road Trip

Life's lessons can be learned any where, any time and I love to find the parable around me in everyday life.  I recently took a road trip to Utah and Idaho.  Pretty eventful and as I pondered some of the events, I recognized parallels and metaphor every step of the way.  You may find things in my story to fit your life and provide lessons to learn from.  Those lessons could be entirely different from mine.  Parables are like that and symbolism can take on so many forms.  So here's my story.

Ali and I started out for Salt Lake City on a Friday morning, van loaded with not only our stuff, but a bike, some boxes and Christmas gifts that I was delivering for some young ladies that have served and are serving missions in my area.  The drive there was pretty uneventful.  The typical 11 hour drive took us a bit longer, but that always happens.  We had a wedding reception to attend in Salt Lake on Saturday and I had rooms reserved at a motel in downtown Salt Lake close to temple square.  Now, in my defense, let me just say that I haven't stayed in a Motel 6 in a VERY long time.  We used to stay there when traveling with young children as the rates were affordable and the room was adequate.  So my objective was to keep my trip as inexpensive as possible.  (Lesson learned: inexpensive and cheap don't always mean the same thing. Inexpensive---okay.  Cheap---not okay.)  So we went to the motel first to check in, then planned to visit temple square to see the Christmas lights.  As we entered our non smoking room, the smell just about knocked us over.  Not that "just smoked" smell, but that smell that permeates carpets, drapes, etc when an area had been exposed to massive cigarette smoke over a long period of time.  I went straight to the desk and requested another "non smoking" room.  So the second room, when entered, did not seem as bad.  At least I could smell the air freshener trying to camouflage the smoke smell.  And it was a non smoking room, at least the ash tray with the no smoking sign on it said so.......

(Lesson learned:  If you don't want people to smoke in a motel room, don't give them an ash tray, duh!)

I should have changed plans then, but didn't.  After all, it's just a room for a few nights, right?  So change of scenery, we did go to temple square from there.  What a beautiful sight.  I grew up 3 hours from Salt Lake, but had never seen the Christmas lights on temple square before.  

 What an amazing change of atmosphere in just a few blocks.
As we walked, I noticed a young man maybe 13 or 14, walking towards us and speaking another language.  Immediately I recognized the woman he was speaking to.  It was Sister Harriet Uchtdorf.  And then noticed next to her, President Uchtdorf.  For those who don't know, President Dieter Uchtdorf is the 2nd counselor in the First Presidency of our church.  We honor and sustain him as a prophet of God.  Sister Uchtdorf walked right by me.  I could have reached out and touched her.  (Lesson learned: in the midst of the smell and the ugliness that sometimes affects our surroundings, there is glorious beauty and messengers of God, if we know where to look and we place ourselves there.)    

Now back to the motel room.  Ah yes, the motel room.  Did I mention the sink was clogged.  Oh yeah really clogged.  But hey, the heater worked, sort of.  And the shower was clean with hot water.  Did I also mention that prior to our trip, a family in Kaysville (30 minutes away) had offered us a place to stay if we needed it.  This was a family I hadn't met before.  We were taking the bike and other things to store in their garage, all arranged by these young sister missionaries that I know.  They are the family of one of the missionaries I have recently become acquainted with.  At the time, I had already made our motel reservations.  I also don't like to impose on people and they were strangers to me, so I politely declined their offer.  So there we were, in this motel room, for 2 nights.  The next morning as we were getting ready to leave for the day, Ali opened the drapes to bring more light in as I was putting make-up on.  We were on a second floor, around the corner on the back side of the motel.  I can put up with a lot, always have.  But the final straw was when a man knocked on our window.  All the door locks were secure and I wasn't about to open the door.  He said, "Are you okay?" I asked him (through the window) what he wanted.  He didn't answer my question.  He just kept repeating, "Are you okay?"  I told him to go away and that I wasn't about to open the door.  I finally closed the drapes and he walked off.  If I had to guess, I would say he was homeless.   I later found out the largest homeless shelter in the state is a few blocks away and they kick everyone out during the day for cleaning. This man was probably harmless, but it was no doubt an uneasy feeling and scared Ali as well.  Without hesitation, I sent a text to this family I was delivering the bike to and asked if the offer was still open.  We had one more night to stay in Salt Lake.  I attempted to call the desk to let them know we were canceling the 2nd night and low and behold, the phone didn't work.  (Lesson learned:  I can put up with a lot, but sometimes you just need to cut your time short and "get the heck out of Dodge".)  Everywhere we went that day, we could smell that room.  We were taking the smell with us.  Lovely!  It was in our clothes and our hair.  We had a wedding reception to go to that night.  It was one of the main reasons for our trip.  Laurie Argyle not only opened her home to us, but washed our clothes and washed and styled our hair in her home salon before leaving for the reception.  

(Lesson learned:  sometimes strangers are just friends we haven't met yet.)  

The reception was incredibly nice.  We were surrounded by great people who we had something in common with.  We all loved the bride and groom, Lexie and Shae. And they should all be grateful to Laurie Argyle that we didn't bring that smell with us.

The next morning we were given a full breakfast before attending 9:00 a.m. church with the Argyles.  We only stayed for the 1st hour as we needed to get on the road and head to Idaho to see my mom in Montpelier.  It had been raining during the night and I knew that meant snow in Logan canyon.  They usually keep the roads in the canyon pretty clear, unless it's during a storm, or immediately after, which was the case.  

Before we left the church building, Layne wanted to say a prayer with us, so he found an empty room and he offered a prayer.  As I mentioned before, Laurie and Layne's daughter is currently serving a mission in my area.  I have had the pleasure of getting to know her and have had a few occasions to help her and her companion with a few things.  Laurie felt this connection with me and I with her.  We both cried during the prayer that Layne offered.  It was a prayer of gratitude and also asking safety for Ali and me as we traveled.

(Lesson learned:  sometimes the angels are mortals placed in our path to bring us joy and share their light.)

That prayer was felt when driving through the canyon on icy roads.  I don't have a lot of experience on snow and ice, but I did grow up around it and have a great deal of respect for the roads under those conditions.  

I kept my speed way down and much caution on the brakes.  I felt that I lost traction a few times and started to slide, never really losing control though.  Somehow always came out of the slide okay, but not really sure I did anything to correct the slide.  It just happened.  Especially tense coming down the steep switch back side.  (Lesson learned, although already knew:  prayer works!)

So the rest of the trip was somewhat uneventful, in comparison.  We had a short, but nice visit with my mom.  We also saw some family in Pocatello Idaho and did some shopping (always fun). We picked some things up in Idaho Falls that needed to be brought back to a college student returning to our ward for a few months before going back to BYU-I.  (Oh.... another lesson learned:  when living in Phoenix and prompted to buy an ice scraper for the car, "just in case".....buy it!)

It was a long drive home, Pocatello to Phoenix in 14 hours straight.  It didn't seem bad though.  I enjoy the drive.  The best part was driving into Phoenix though.  It was about 9 pm and dark.  I wanted to take a different route home to drive by the Phoenix Temple.  I had my Michael McLean playlist playing.  He's one of my favorites.  Wouldn't you know, as I drove down Pinnacle Peak in the dark (very dark), one of my most favorite of his songs came on and these words rang through the van,  "When your world is filled with darkness, doubt or fear..just hold on...hold on....the light will come".

(Lesson learned:  Isn't it obvious!)

Phoenix LDS Temple.....All Are Welcome

We have a very unique opportunity in Phoenix right now.  Our temple is complete and will be dedicated in just one month.  When I say, 'our temple' I'm referring to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, shortened to LDS and nicknamed Mormons. After the dedication, it will be available for those members of the LDS faith who demonstrate a high standard of living.  Prior to the dedication, it is open for public tours.  Anyone and everyone is welcome to take a tour.  

There are 143 LDS temples all over the world, in Africa, Europe, Asia, the Isle of the Pacific, and of course both North and South America as well.  In addition, there are 15 temples under construction and 12 more announced to begin construction in the near future.  Temples are different than the buildings we hold Sunday worship in.  In temples we learn ancient truths that were taught in ancient temples such as Solomon's Temple in the Old Testament.  These  truths are necessary to return to live with God after this life.  The work we do in the temples and these truths were restored to our day by heavenly messengers to the Prophet Joseph Smith.  We have learned that Jesus Christ taught that baptism by the proper authority is necessary to return to live in heaven again after we die.  There are many people who have lived on the earth who have not had that opportunity to learn of Jesus Christ or be baptized by that proper authority.  In the temples, we're able to perform that ordinance on behalf of those who could not or did not do it for them selves while they were living.  We do family history research, searching out the names of our ancestors.  We then take those names to the temple and do baptisms and other ordinances on behalf of our ancestors.  We believe that they, in a state of existence in life after death, have the opportunity to accept or reject that work performed for them.  We are a temple building people because the service done in the temples is crucial to the progression toward eternal life.

The Phoenix temple is very near and dear to my heart.  I have the marvelous opportunity to be one of many tour guides helping with the open house.  My friend Becky and I did our 1st shift a few days ago.  I want to share a few things.  On one of my tours, there was a little girl about age 6 I'm guessing.  I am also guessing she and her family are members of the LDS church, at least it seemed that way.  She was right on my heels the whole time.  I had to hold her back a few times.  I just wasn't going fast enough for her.  In every room we went into, she asked, "Is this the room they get married in?"  In our faith we believe that marriage and families are eternal and not just 'until death'.  Jesus Christ gave Peter the power to bind in heaven and on earth.  That same power has been restored to the earth and the marriages performed in the temple are 'sealed' for all eternity.  Children are also 'sealed' into this family unit.  Those who were previously married outside of the temple, and later demonstrate a desire and a commitment to live the higher standard, can have the same ceremony, making their family eternal.  This little girl had been taught well and she wanted to see where this all took place.  When we finally arrived at the room where marriages are performed, she was beaming.  It warmed my heart.  On another tour, there was a man who came by himself.  He was glued to the video that was shown before we actually went inside the temple.  He hung on every word.  Inside the temple he was incredibly attentive to every bit of glorious beauty that surrounded us.  It would be fair to say that he came searching for something.  I hope he found it!  

For us, the temple is the house of the Lord.  It is the closest place to heaven on earth.  Only the finest of materials are used and the workmanship is no less than perfection.  The feelings felt inside the temple are personal, spiritual, uplifting, and edifying.  Answers to life's questions can be sought and received there.  

If you would want the opportunity to tour this marvelous building, to see and feel why we hold temples so dear, the open house will continue until November 1st, 2014.  Reservations are free, and can be obtained on the following link.  This link also contains general information about the open house and the temple in general.

http://mormontemples.org/phoenix

Once dedicated, as mentioned above, the temple is available to all those LDS members who meet certain requirements.  The opportunity to meet those requirements is available to all.  Our temples are not exclusive.  Rather they are for the world to do a world wide work necessary for all mankind to return to live in heaven again with God.  The requirements to enter and learn these things and do this work first for ourselves and then for others who have died are set forth by a loving God.  Those requirements demonstrate a deep commitment to keep the sanctity of His holy house.  All are welcome to meet those requirements and show that desire and commitment.  

Parable of the Dirty Room / Justice vs Mercy

This was posted by the facebook page "Mormon Women Stand" and made an instant impression on me when I saw it.  Most of the time I just like to read the comments and follow, but don't get too involved.  Sometimes I feel compelled to comment and this was one of those times. I started typing, not really formulating my whole thought process in advance.  As I typed my mind was opened to insights I had never really thought about.  It was amazing to me to see my thoughts come out in words that inspired and taught me as I typed.  This was my comment:

 I love this visual. Thank you for posting it. Whether dealing with current world issues and views or personal and family struggles, finding the balance and not leaning toward one of these qualities over the other is key. When you encounter someone who is truly striving to develop and balance these qualities, you know and feel it inside. Too often we overlook knowledge, justice, judgement and truth when dealing with our own struggles and trials in an attempt to not be lacking in mercy toward others. We place far too much guilt on ourselves if we seem lacking in mercy. If these qualities were quoted in the order that Joseph Smith taught them, I believe the order is also profound. Knowledge of God's eternal plan has to come 1st before any of the others can truly be understood in their true context. We must have Faith in a loving Heavenly Father who wants all to have happiness, joy and eternal life in the end. We need that Knowledge and Faith to truly understand God's position on Justice and Judgment and we need to have that Knowledge and Faith so that we can set aside what Judgments and Justice we would personally place on others and put them at Christ's feet where they belong. Then Mercy can take place in it's proper place in our hearts as we understand the Justice and Judgement that is necessary for someone to come to know Christ for themselves. And Truth ties it all in together, "And truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come" D&C 93:24. "And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free" John 8:32

One of the administrators to the site sent a very favorable comment back.  She then singled me out by name and asked me my thoughts on justice vs. mercy.  She added "since you described it so well above".  She also asked how I would better teach this to our youth and how we can best teach them to stand by doctrine with kindness, but not shying away from defending it.  Wow......what did I get myself into!  Of course my passion for writing and sharing what I'm learning pulled me in immediately, but "justice vs. mercy", that's pretty deep stuff.  Luckily I was about to clock on for work and I let her know I would respond later, after my work day was over.  I felt like I had just been asked to give a talk in sacrament meeting on a "not so favorite" topic.  Don't get me wrong, I feel like I understand justice vs. mercy, but to put into words and then put those words out there for others was very intimidating, to say the least.  

As the day went on, my thoughts kept coming back to this.  Of course, I wanted some everyday event to use as an analogy.  Perhaps that's because my mind is simple and I learn in simple ways.  I wanted to find a parable to share that would simplify my understanding of this deep doctrine.  Before the end of the day, my mind was opened to something so simple and appropriate.  This was my reply:

Angela, you have caused me to think about this all day. Which is good. While I feel like I understand justice vs mercy, putting it into words is not always so easy. And then again, how to teach this to our youth. I do find that everyday experiences tend to teach gospel principles if we are looking for them. When I tell my daughter she can't go with her friends until her room is clean, I usually mean it. I often want her to go and have fun, I just want her to clean her room too. Quite often she puts it off and doesn't do anything until there really isn't time to do all the cleaning before time to go with her friends. I can either give in and let her go anyway, completely ruining my credibility with her, or I can stick to my word and not let her go. We can say this is just like our Heavenly Father giving us commandments and expecting us to follow them if we want the associated blessings. If we fall short, He can either give in and give us the blessings anyway or He can simply tell us too bad, we messed up and can't ever have the blessings. So back to my daughter's room...... I have, on more than one occasion, stepped into her room and helped her clean it to meet the deadline of her friends' activity. So maybe some would call that poor parenting and I should have just made her stay home. What I feel inside is a deep desire to let her have the fun she wants, but find it difficult to go back on my word. I won't say that I never go back on my word and that's just weakness on my part. But we know that our Heavenly Father never goes back on His word and he is bound by the law of justice, intertwined with the law of agency that we are given. He cannot interfere with our agency. It is key to the whole plan of salvation. But in His mercy and deep desire to ultimately give us the associated blessings, He has created a plan and provided a Savior to step into our dirty room and to help us where we come up short. He remains firm in His word and His law of justice. Again the law of agency comes into play and we choose to allow our Savior to help us or we don't. We, and we alone, choose to accept the mercy that coexists with the justice.  It's our choice.  The laws are set forth, the plan for mercy is in place and we choose what we do with it. And as for your question about how I would teach our youth to stand firm in our doctrine with kindness, that really is a tough one. But example is so important along with a lot of prayer. Also a lot of open discussion about how our Heavenly Father stands firm to the law of justice. He doesn't waiver or give in or shrink. Right is right and wrong is wrong. But it is His infinite love and kindness that has created a plan for all his children to be given the opportunity to accept the blessings awaiting them.

Hiding Behind the Metaphor

My birthday is this month and I will be 57.  I don't have a problem saying that.  It's only a number.  Notice I didn't say 57 years old as most would say, and notice I didn't say 57 years young, as some would say.  It's just a measure of time in this mortal journey.  As I look back, my mind is full.  I have 5 children, ages range from 15 to 37.  They too are on their own mortal journey with a measure of time attached.  I think of all the things I've learned, more specifically as a mother in the last 37 years, and how my own growth has changed the way I've raised them and, more specifically, handled the situations surrounding our environment.  My oldest were not raised the same way I'm raising the youngest-fact.  My youngest has different challenges in her teenage life than my oldest did- fact.  I'm a different person now than I was 37 years ago- fact.  It is the nature of this life to learn and grow and change.  Hopefully to gain strengths and gain understanding of the whole learning process.  Hopefully changing our behavior to adjust to what we are learning and becoming.  And most importantly, changing what we are becoming to create a more Christlike pattern of living.

At this point in my 57 years, my life is changing. Some categorize my most recent change as a "life changing event".  Some would say that event is surrounded with a lot of pain and suffering.  The pain is real- fact.  The suffering is optional- fact.  In my past blog posts, I have referenced a lot of that pain with metaphors of storms and other things.  I've used stories and experiences as parables to learn from and gain strength from.  I've used this public blog as a means to share what I'm learning as I go.  I've hidden behind the metaphor in an attempt to keep personal things personal, but also to share and to express my emotions.  All the time hoping that anyone out there who might be experiencing similar pain could read between the lines and connect with me.  Hoping they could gain a sense of self worth and know they are loved by a kind and loving Heavenly Father.  I have not only discovered a love for writing, but have come to realize my writing as a talent.  I hope that doesn't sound boastful.  I truly believe this talent to be a gift from my Heavenly Father.  I believe in parables and as taught in the parable of the talents, I want to be like the one who used and therefore increased his talents.  My writing is very therapeutic.  That's the personal gain.  But when I see that someone else is gaining something, anything, that is what helps me continue. That is what gives me purpose and helps to separate the pain from the suffering and put the suffering in the optional category. 

 As I continue to think back on the 37 years of raising my children, I also look at them now and see the struggles they endure.  My heart aches at times as I watch and know exactly how they feel and know exactly why they handle themselves as they do.  But I am also filled with joy and peace as I see how they are learning and growing, experiencing their own journey, learning from their own parables, and simply doing the best they can.  My mind takes me to all the "what ifs" and all the "should haves".  But that kind of analyzing is not productive and serves no purpose.  I try to see the silver lining to the cloud and recognize the growth opportunity not only for me but for my children.  I hope they can see that lining for themselves.  For every Christlike quality we are here to develop, there are experiences we must encounter to truly develop them.  We can't learn a skill without practice and we can't practice by sitting on the bench.  We must get in the game and give it our all, sometimes getting dirty and hurt.  And sometimes even losing the game.  But when all is said and done, it's not about the winning or losing, it's about the experience and what was gained from that experience.

So as long as there are personal things to keep personal and emotions to protect I will continue to hide behind the metaphor.  As with the parables, those that have ears to hear will hear.  Hopefully taking their own storms of life and learning from them.  All the time acknowledging the pain, which is real, but putting the optional suffering away.  All the time recognizing the incredible growth that is happening because we are on the playing field playing the game, and giving it our all.

Experience....The Ultimate Tutor

Ali was watching a video at her dad's house the other night.  It was a video taken on new years eve a few years ago.  The house was full of family, also celebrating my daughter in law's birthday.  In this particular video, the tweens were dancing to a dance game on the Wii.  I remember that night.  I was joining them.  I do love to dance, although have to say have not had much opportunity to do that.  She called me with a lot of joy and laughter and told me what she was watching.  Her words, "We were all dancing and you were trying to dance".  Okay, I could have taken offence to that, but no, after all, she's a teenager.  I get it.  It didn't stop there though.  She continued her laughter and said she couldn't believe how FAT I was in the video, explaining that she didn't realize I had really been that FAT.  Oh yeah, she emphasized the word FAT repeating it over a few times.  Of course I know I was much heavier at that time.  Actually the heaviest I've ever been.  I know all that, but there was a teaching moment here.  So I took a few minutes of parental liberty to explain to her that wasn't exactly a polite way to say something like that.  I told her the better way to say it was, "Gee mom, I didn't realize how much weight you've lost.  You look great now, Good job!"  Of course, she laughed even more and said, "Yeah whatever, you were really FAT, but I love you".  I told her I loved her too and that's where the conversation ended.  So thinking about that, I could have been offended and angry.  But at what?  The fact that she said I was fat was a true statement in teen verbiage.  As she said it to me on the phone, I have to admit there was a sense of pride and accomplishment in the weight I had lost and the way I now feel about myself.  That's what entered my mind.  But as I explained to her the more acceptable way to word it, the thought also crossed my mind that some people would take a simple compliment like, "You've lost a lot of weight, you look great" and turn it around in their mind to mean, "In the past, you were really fat and looked horrible".

Our minds are such fascinating things.  We tend to take everyday happenings and then, sometimes instantly and sometimes over a period of time, we make up "stories" about that particular happening.  We analyze, interpret, justify, blame, etc, etc.  Basically we start to fill in blanks with our own interpretations and ideology.  Sometimes we build and build upon a simple statement or experience, actually believing all the stories that our minds are creating.  Human behavior doesn't stop there.  Because then the emotion sets in, fed by those stories.  Emotions like taking offence, anger, embarrassment, sadness, happiness, joy, pride.  After the emotion, comes the way we act or respond to those stories and emotions.  Not saying any of this is bad, it's just human nature.  Something happens, we process it in our minds with added stories supplied by our minds, and we react.  It's a normal cycle.  

Not everything that happens to us produces negative results like this.  The cycle takes place constantly with everything that happens, every experience great or small.  But if someone is at all interested in bettering themselves, cleaning out the bad traits, understanding this cycle, is key.  Realizing the difference between the actual experience and the added stories is the place to start.  Then and only then, can we change the action or behavior that might not be such a good and productive way to act. It would be a really nice world if everyone understood how their minds worked and could recognize the "story telling" our own minds produce.  Maybe the actions that follow would not be so painful, either for ourselves or for the people around us that get the fall out.  I remember quite often with my children, as they would tell me about how someone wasn't very nice to them.  I would say, "You can't control how someone else acts, you can only control how you act".  Following up with a discussion on how we get to choose how we respond.

It is my belief that we are all here on this earth, this mortal life, to experience life.  To experience that human behavior that goes along with it.  Both our own behavior and the behavior of others.  To show how we learn from each experience and take it all in to make ourselves better.  To gain and develop qualities that would allow us to return to live with God, our Heavenly Father, again after this mortal life.  I came across a quote I had saved that puts this so perfectly.  It's by Neal A. Maxwell and was part of a talk he gave at Brigham Young University in 1994.

"The celestial attributes--such as love, patience, mercy, meekness, and submissiveness--embody what we are to become. They are not just a litany of qualities to be recited! Awareness of them--even articulate awareness--without their application will not do. Furthermore, these same attributes cannot be developed in the abstract. The relevant experiences are required, even when you and I would try to avoid them. Moreover, our individual developmental schedules reflect God's timetable, not ours. His timetable, if followed, prepares us incrementally for the journey of discipleship and for going home!"


  

Personal View of the Mormon Woman

I haven't blogged in a while.  I've been rather busy with life and such.  I feel a sense of excitement and joy when I write so my mind has been wandering around several topics but not really settling on any.  Today, however a topic entered my mind and immediately I knew I had to write about it.  Not only am I passionate about this topic, but as I thought about it, my heart felt like it was swelling inside of me.  I was filled with a sense of purpose and power and was sure this was the topic to write about.  Let me first clarify that the name of the religion or church I belong to is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, sometimes shortened to LDS.  We even refer to ourselves by using the nickname "Mormon".  So in this blog, I may use any of the 3 names interchangeably.  

There seems to be talk out there about the LDS church not allowing women the same privileges or leadership opportunities as men.  Such a misconception.  Let me repeat that in case you didn't catch it the first time.  SUCH A MISCONCEPTION!  I've been a member of the LDS church since I was born.  My 1st memory in church was when I was about 3 or 4.  I was standing at the pulpit in front of the whole congregation.  I still remember my subject.  I was telling the members about a mother's love.  We're taught and given the opportunity to speak in front of the congregation starting at the age of 3, both boys and girls alike.  I was given many opportunities to do that very thing with a variety of topics.  Then at age 12, we're given leadership duties over a group of our peers.  We learn these skills under the direction of women who have been given the assignment to prepare us for the day when we, in turn, will lead and teach other children and young women.  As adults, women are given even more responsibility and assignments.  Women lead the youth groups, ages 3 thru 11 and also young women groups ages 12 thru 18.  We plan, coordinate, teach, and inspire these youth.  They are placed in our care, or under our stewardship.  Again as adults, we're given the assignment on occasion, to speak to the congregation from the pulpit.  Some religions call this preaching.  We simply call it "giving a talk".  We can be given a teaching assignment where we stand in front of a class of both adult men and women and teach scripture and the associated gospel doctrines that are taught through the scriptures.  Other religions might require ordination for the things we LDS women do on an ongoing basis.  I have personally sat in counsels with other leaders of the ward (congregation) where my opinion and the opinion of other women leaders is not only accepted, but asked for and respected.  These counsels take place all over the world in their respective geographical wards, (over 29,000 congregations) with women leaders in every ward around the globe.  In addition to the women who carry out these ward leadership duties, there are women in our stakes with respective duties.  A stake is comprised of several wards combined.  And we have women who oversee all the wards and stakes.  They are located at church headquarters in Salt Lake City.  They travel the world to see to the needs of the various local ward leaders.  They sit in counsels with the general leadership of the worldwide church.  And just as I have sat in local ward counsels, they too contribute to the overall leadership as they sit in these worldwide leadership counsels.  Women teach in our Seminaries and Institutes.  They travel all over the world conducting workshops and conventions.  They organize and carry out humanitarian aid all over the world.  At age 19, women can teach gospel principles on a full time mission for 18 months.  And, I haven't even told you about our Relief Society yet.  Saving the best for last.  Relief Society is the largest worldwide organization for women.  The Relief Society is for women and lead by women.  Let me tell you about its beginnings.  In the early days of the church, women wanted to help the cause of building a temple.  They gathered and made a plan.  They even wrote down some rules and bylaws in  order to organize themselves.  They took this to the leadership of the church for approval.  Joseph Smith could have simply agreed that it looked good and let them proceed, but he did more than that.  He supported their actions and desire.  He helped them by setting up leadership for this organization.  Women were "set apart" by priesthood authority to lead this organization.  In other words, they were given rights and powers to lead and direct.  Women leaders today are given the same powers under the direction of the priesthood to lead in their respective duties.  We don't call this an ordination, but other churches would call it that.  And back to the beginnings of the Relief Society.  This took place in 1842.  Women hadn't even been given the right to vote in the U.S.  Overall, women weren't given the same education opportunities as men.  They were not allowed to have any leadership duties in any of the current religions of that time period.  Joseph Smith was a busy man.  He was overseeing the building of a temple.  He was enduring personal persecutions as well as persecutions to the general membership of the church.  He had a lot on his plate, so to speak.  It was not customary in that time period for women to be educated or given responsibility.  Yet, Joseph and the other leaders of the church took the time to teach the women of the church, to help them learn the leadership skills needed.  Does this sound like a church that suppresses women or doesn't value their ability and contributions?  I don't think so.  And this was not just the way a few leaders of the church handled things, it was the beginning of a pattern that continued.  I have a great great grandmother who was given leadership duties in the Relief Society in the latter part of the 1800s.  Today women all over the world participate in these assignments.  

So back to some of those misconceptions.  The LDS church does not suppress women.  It builds us up, it empowers us.  It does not consider women weak or insignificant.  It values us and our various talents and contributions.  It does not simply tolerate us, it welcomes us and encourages us to participate and contribute.  The LDS church did not start allowing women into leadership roles to satisfy current political correctness.  Rather it organized and set women leaders apart under priesthood authority in 1842 when allowing those rights and privileges to women was a most unpopular thing to do.  It has been consistent ever since.  

Yes, we Mormon women come in all shapes and sizes, all colors too.  We bring a lot of different abilities and talents to the table.  In the leadership of the church, both men and women bring their talents and abilities.  There are roles that only women can fill and roles that only men can fill.  I personally wouldn't want to have to fill the role of the men leaders in my ward.  I simply don't have time with everything else that I do.  To be quite honest, I wouldn't want to turn my roles over to the men either.  They couldn't handle it.  A baseball team with 9 pitchers filling the 9 positions on the field wouldn't get very far.  Each talent and offering is needed and valuable.

Simply put, this Mormon woman feels grateful to be part of a church that understands and teaches the divine role of the woman.  To be respected for the talents I have and given the constant opportunity to improve and gain more as I go and learn.  To feel valuable and appreciated for my contributions great or small.

My Journey's Spiritual Savings Account

I'm reading a book by S. Michael Wilcox called Finding Hope: Where to Look for God's Help.  He speaks of different journeys that we read about in scripture, the children of Israel traveling in the wilderness before entering the promised land, the Jaredites traveling to the American continent, and others.  He makes a comment that I've never thought of before.  He said that when we read of the major crossings/journeys in the scriptures, whether they be over deserts or wilderness or oceans, we should read them with our own lives in mind.  We'll have points in our own journey when we reach a critical crossing.  If we read and study these scripture accounts with our individual journey in mind, we can do so with courage, hope and faith.  This struck a big cord with me.  I view my own life here as a journey filled with lots of excitement, experience, pain, sorrow, etc.  I have a destination in mind, some would call it the promised land, but getting past some of this negative stuff like the pain and sorrow is very tricky sometimes and ultimately just plain hard.  The author of this book also comments that we are given experiences in our lives that will come in handy later.  In other words, when facing a difficult time, we're given a memory of something in our past that can give us hope and courage to get through the present.  As I read that it rang so true.  I have numerous thoughts, experiences, dreams that have happened in the past and at a later date they come to mind.  They seem to be just what is needed to keep me moving forward.  I've learned to write these experiences down as they happen.  Going back to re-read them also gives added insight and strength.  It seems as if I'm depositing these good experiences, into a spiritual savings account.  One that is available to withdraw from when I need it, when times get discouraging or tough.  It is so amazing how the Lord blesses us with this type of tender mercy.

Let me share one of these with you.  A month or so ago I had a dream that I was in a bed.  There was a large piece of metal above me suspended in the air.  It was the exact size of the bed and situated exactly above it.  From that perspective all I could see was the underneath side of the metal above me.  Then my perspective changed and I was looking at myself in this bed from a distance.  I could now see the metal from a different angle.  From this new perspective I could also see that it was raining, hard.  This piece of metal was being hit by fast and powerful rain from above.  The me in the bed was dry and secure underneath.  I woke up and felt impressed to write this down.  As I wrote, I felt that the piece of metal was a shield protecting me and the fast and furious "rain" was more like fiery darts.  (Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.......Ephesians 6:16).  I also felt that this shield has always been with me.  I have since had several times where that visual of myself being protected from the rain/fiery darts has come to mind and given me great strength, even courage.  A deposit was made into my spiritual savings account and there for the using.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to see and walk through the new Gilbert LDS Temple before its dedication.  I started out with a friend to attend an early morning session at the Mesa Temple.  As we got to the Mesa Temple we discovered it was closed for maintenance. We discussed going out for breakfast or driving to the new Gilbert Temple.  We chose the latter.  The sun was just starting to rise.  The temple grounds were incredible.  There were circumstances surrounding this that made it above and beyond the usual open house tours that are currently being offered to the public.  It was an experience that has and will continue to have great impact as I am able to withdraw it as needed from my account.  It was truly an amazing and personal tender mercy.  Let me tell you what this experience has brought to mind so far.  There are always choices to make in life.  Not always between a good thing and bad thing, or right or wrong thing.  Sometimes our choices are between 2 right/good things.  Sometimes when we set out to do good, for all the right reasons, there needs to be a change of plans or a change in course due to circumstances that we can't control and didn't foresee.  We could make several good choices, but when we keep our focus on the temple and the things of God, the blessings are incredible.  And as we travel through this journey called life, if we keep within the walls of righteousness, we can't make a wrong turn.  We can't get lost.  There is beauty and peace at every turn.  An additional lesson learned, the blessings the Lord has in store for us are beyond our imagination.  Sometimes we just need to tell him what we would like.  God knows our hearts, but there are lessons to learn and blessings to gain just from the asking.  

My spiritual savings account is continually full.  The tender mercies are numerous and everywhere, making deposits on a regular basis.  Even though I continually find the need to withdraw from it, the interest gained seems unending.

So anyway.....what's in your cloud?

While I'm not part of the generation that are born with an ipad in their hand, I do catch on rather quickly to new technology.  I love all the newest and greatest things available to us and like most, wonder what on earth we ever did before texting and other such wonders.  I recently had a mishap with my cell phone that caused some grief though.  One morning I woke up to the screen stating that there was no sd card installed.  Now I knew that couldn't be the case, but I did open it up to check.  I took the sd card out and reinserted and it still claimed there was no card.  I checked my files on the phone and to my horror, it really didn't show any sd storage.  I took the sd out, used the little adapter that came with it and inserted into my pc.  It was not detected in my pc!  I thought I was being so proactive by storing my pictures, documents, etc on the card and not on the main internal storage of my phone.  After all, didn't want to risk loosing it all if I had to change phones or something.  Who would think those little cards can go bad.  I even took it to a data recovery place and they couldn't retrieve anything.  So there it was, a worthless little storage card that used to have about a years worth of pictures on it.  Yeah about a year I estimate.  So I got to thinking about the backup service, "the cloud",  that came as a free service with my cellular account.  I never really understood what it was all about.  I guess a more accurate statement would be to say that I never really took the time to figure out what it was all about and how it worked.  I now decided to take the time.  I didn't want to risk losing pictures again.  You can imagine my excitement when I opened up the account and my pictures began to appear right on my screen.  Yup, pictures from the last year.  But I did discover that I was still missing the last 6 months or so.  I think I must have started the account and the backups, then when I got my new phone about 6 months ago, I didn't reactivate it.  So live and learn.  Now I have it set up so my pictures, my documents (basically my life) store in my cloud.  Everything syncs between my phone, my pc, my laptop, making all elements of my life accessible from basically anywhere.  I had forgotten about taking some of the pictures, but when seeing them, they certainly brought back memories of situations, people, events, and so on.  What a fun concept to think about.  If I have a cloud to store my life in, think of all the stuff others must have in their cloud.  Then again maybe I don't want to think about that.  Maybe when we get to Heaven, we're invited to sit down and view our life story from the stuff stored in our cloud.  Just like my pictures popping up in front of me that I had forgotten about, so will the events of our life be, restoring memories of events and people and actions.  Hopefully good memories.  Hopefully memories we wouldn't mind if others saw because this might not be done privately, but rather a drive-in-movie sort of thing.  Kind of reminds me of a section of scripture stating iniquities shall be spoken upon the housetops and their secret acts shall be revealed.  

So maybe we'll be judged from that stuff; our pictures, our documents, our online histories, our facebook time lines.  Interesting.......what better way to see how a person spends their time and what they think about than to check out their online activity.  What if our cloud content is not only used to judge, but used to create our own Heaven.  I definitely want a nice fluffy clean white cloud.  How about you?  Yeah, just random things to think about.  Good thing there's a delete button.