In Sacrament meeting yesterday, the High Council gave an awesome talk. He was talking about principle rather than preference. He talked about marriage and problems in marriage. He said most of them happen because we have different preferences–the Lord doesn’t care how we do things (like finance situations, for example), but he cares about the principle behind them, and if we have the right principles, then our problems will likely be solved.
What stuck out the most to me however, was a story about a mom who came to see him when he was a bishop. Her daughter was 15 and starting to hang out more and more with a boy she really liked. Her mom was getting worried about it but was afraid that if she laid down the law, it would push her daughter away. They were really close and she was afraid that it would change her relationship with her daughter. Well, this man giving the talk (her bishop then), reminded her that these children we have are not our own. They are Heavenly Father’s children. We just have a chance here to raise them, but He is watching us and they are His! So, he told her that Heavenly Father has laid out the way–He has told us what He wants us to do regarding everything. He told her to tell her what Heavenly Father and the prophets have revealed concerning the matter. He said to tell her, “If you have a problem with what I tell you, it is not me you have the problem with, it is the Lord and His prophets. If you have a problem with what they are saying, then you go to them. My job is to tell you what the Lord wants me to.” Then he said as parents, we have to let them choose after that. So the mom does this, the daughter ends up praying about it (taking it to the Lord), and decides to lay off the relationship with this boy. The mom tells her bishop that she is excited to raise teenagers and let them learn for themselves about receiving answers and also the having to live through the consequences of their choices. The thing I loved the most is “It’s not a problem you have with me, it’s the Lord and you take it up with Him”. What a great way to teach your children how to make choices by going to the Lord!
Last night I watched a special about China and it’s women. I realized how amazingly blessed I’ve been just being in America–the chance for education, college especially, not having to work as children just so our family can make it, not being controlled on the amount of children we can have and the sex of child we can keep/have or even want to, not being oppressed as a woman, in marriage especially. It was a great eye-opener once again how blessed we are to live here.
Thats a great way of looking at it, so true..Thanks for sharing…
I love that. I never thought of it that way!
I’d never thought of it that way either. The hard part is sitting back after teaching them and letting them make choices, even wrong ones. I’d also seen the special on China and women there. I was amazed at how much they have to go through, especially in the area where they’re trying to control the population, they place the responsibility solely on the women. They even go so far as to make sure the women are using birth control and don’t have more than 1 maybe 2 kids. We are really blessed to live here in the states.