How Should I Vote? Obama, Romney or Neither?

            Recently, I read a blog post from a lady I have followed for several years.  She remarked that she did not know who she was going to vote for yet, but she was leaning toward Romney.  She cited that in the previous election she had voted for Obama.

            I have also read/talked to others who declare they won’t vote for either one.  They will cast a “non-vote.”            

            I have been surprised by these ideas.  First of all I have to say I’m not personally thrilled by our choices this election cycle.  I am a conservative and I did not vote for Romney in the Republican Primary Election.  Romney is too moderate in my opinion; which was exactly why my fellow blogger was willing to vote for him.  Would I go so far as to cast a “non-vote” though?

There are a lot of tough questions facing Americans today.  Questions about foreign policy, border control, welfare, environment, fiscal spending, health care, social security….. The list goes on and on.  This much I’ve established:

·         Everyone has a different idea on how to solve a said problem.  And that person always thinks they are right.

·         Both parties contain people who are corrupt and they receive financial backing from corrupt people.

·         Both parties contain honorable people despite what the other party thinks.

·         No one really has all the answers.

·         It’s impossible to agree with someone on everything.

·         Some issues are more important to some people than they are to others.

I do believe at the end of the day there are two issues that are critical and more important than anything else.  These two issues must be fought for no matter what else you believe.  Period. Game over.  These two issues are: the sanctity of human life and the preservation of the family unit.

People must be placed in government who will defend these values.  All other ideas must always be secondary to preserving human life and defending the family as the fundamental unit of society.

Elder Oaks recently said, “We also need politicians, policy makers, and officials to increase their attention to what is best for children in contrast to the selfish interest of voters and vocal advocates of adult interests.”

Whatever differences we have (which are A LOT), Romney and I do agree that human life is sacred and that marriage is defined as a union of one man and one woman.  I therefore will and must vote for him if the choice is between him or Obama.  There is no other option.

These issues are not secondary issues.  They chart the course of a moral or an amoral people. We condemn our society when we allow the sanctity of life to be desecrated by legislation.

An apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ recently had these thoughts to give on the subject of abortion and children,

“Children are highly vulnerable.  They have little or no power to protect or provide for themselves and little influence on so much that is vital to their well-being.  Children need others to speak for them, and they need decision makers who put their well-being ahead of selfish adult interests…

“From the perspective of the plan of salvation, one of the most serious abuses of children is to deny them birth…

“Many laws permit or even promote abortion, but to us this is a great evil.”

He did not say abortion is a difference of opinion, like whether we promote social medicine or not, but he said abortion is EVIL.

Remember the words of the Savior,

“And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.

“But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” Matthew 18:5-6

In speaking of marriage the same apostle shared these thoughts,

“Throughout history, marriage has first and foremost been an institution for procreation and raising children.  It has provided the cultural tie that seeks to connect the father to his children by binding him to the mother of his children...

“Our church leaders have taught that looking ‘upon marriage as a mere contract that may be entered into at pleasure…and severed at the first difficulty…is an evil meriting severe condemnation,’ especially where ‘children are made to suffer.’”

He went on quoting a New York Times writer who noted “the striking fact that even as traditional marriage has declined in the United States…the evidence has mounted for the institution’s importance to the well-being of children.”

And finally, “The social science literature is controversial and politically charged on the long-term effect of this on children, principally because as a New York Times writer observed, ‘same-sex marriage is a social experiment, and like most experiments it will take time to understand its consequences.’”

As the family is protected so is the child.

A superficial view of the Civil War produces the idea that the war was just about slavery, but it wasn’t.  For many in the south it was an issue about state’s rights and the South fought for state’s rights.  If that had been the only issue I believe our little family would have worn gray.  However, as important as state’s rights are, the rights of human beings must always be more important.  When certain “inalienable rights,” bestowed upon us by our Creator are taken away from others then you and I must stand up and say, “NO!”

Slavery had to abolished, even if it meant big government had to come in and stop it.  Today no push for less taxes, foreign policies, or social medicine can ever be more important to Americans then the rights of all children and families.

I desire to stand before that bar of God and declare I did not vote for people that did not honor life and family.  I further desire to declare that I did vote for people who would promote morality in America.

Please join me in voting for life and family this election.

Developing Our Talents

We recently had a lesson in Young Women’s about developing our talents. I have been thinking all week about what my talents are. I know I don’t want to bury my talents, I know I want to use them. What are they though?

Sometimes in our sacred role as “nurturer” it may seem that anything we are good at has to take a back burner. While that may be true I believe that it is embracing our role of nurturer that we truly begin to recognize what our talents are and the things that we are passionate about. Too often I have thought that I need to separate myself into being “Deanna, the organizer,” from “Deanna, the nurturer.”

I have learned that when I submit to my role as nurturer (wife, mother, sister, friend, daughter) I have found along the way that I do have multiple talents and abilities. Not only have I come to recognize talents but I have come to find out that I am able to magnify them more fully while I am submitting. The moment I say, “eureka, I have a talent” and try to separate it out for selfish gain or glorification I fall on my face. However, when I use a newly discovered talent to further my role as a mother or wife I see that I am progressing and increasing.

That’s where I have to stop and sigh. It just always seem to fall back to submission. In order for me to progress I simply (yes simply) have to submit to God’s plan for me. (Which God’s plan for me is to be a wife and mother). The world wants me to think I need to be more than this or that I deserve to be and do other things too.

 Elder Maxwell, gave this marvelous quote,

“The submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s altar. It is a hard doctrine, but it is true. The many other things we give to God, however nice that may be of us, are actually things He has already given us, and He has loaned them to us. But when we begin to submit ourselves by letting our will be swallowed up in God’s will, then we are really giving something to Him” (Insights from My Life, Ensign, Aug. 2000, 9)

What I learn from this is that it’s “nice” for me to do the things I want and create the things I want, but my true submission comes when I let God’s will truly become my will. I have already learned from the Proclamation that my role is to nurture along with multiple other things like: replenish the earth, chastity, love and care for my children, teach my children to love and serve one another, have our foundation be Jesus Christ, respect each family member, and pursue wholesome recreational activities….

David McConkie said in this last conference, “Brothers and sisters, it is contrary to the economy of heaven for the Lord to repeat to each of us individually what He has already revealed to us collectively. The scriptures contain the words of Christ. They are the voice of the Lord. Studying the scriptures trains us to hear the Lord’s voice.”
I take this to mean the Lord has already established my mission and what I need to submit too. I can learn more about my mission and hence my talents as I submit to His plan by reading His word.  As I do so the still small voice of the Spirit will distill upon me as the dews of heaven and I will see clearly His will for me and the talents He has given me.

I have gone in this essay from a + b + c…. How do I get this back to a? Talent acquisition comes in submission, by submission we learn we need to read the scriptures, in the scriptures we learn our mission, while learning our mission we recognize the talents we have inherently already been given and how we can magnify them so we are not burying our talents. Make sense? I think it’s interesting that submission includes the word mission. We discover mission (and talents) as we submit.

That’s of course not saying we are all the same. Each of us have unique families and personalities. As I’ve submitted to my role of mother for example I have learned that I have a talent for organizing, multi-tasking, doing hard things, teaching, testifying, being on time, efficiency, and personal discipline for example. I think many of us have learned these things. That’s what moms do. In the past I looked beyond the mark and thought that my talent acquisition required great and grand things that had to be done outside my home.

I believe that God's plan is truly marvelous.  As we submit we become much more than we would be on our own.  The ability to do hard things and easily testify to others are not unimportant things.  They are vital talents that I must continue to develop in order to successfully navigate myself through this life.

I am grateful for the knowledge of scriptures and prophets which teach and inspire me in the way of these principles.  I am grateful for the gift of the Holy Ghost that allows further clarification and personal revelation in my own life. 

I have seen that personal submission to God is the way to true happiness.  Happiness in my life has not been found as I've submitted to the world's plan for me.  Sometimes it his hard to find value in what we are doing or that our mundane tasks are the seeds to our great talents. 

In the book "Addiction Recovery Program: A Guide to Addiction Recovery and Healing" written by LDS Family Services available through the Church Distribution Center it says,

"As Elder Maxwell observed, this submission to the Lord is hard doctrine.  It requires us to rededicate ourselves to His will at the start of each day and sometimes every hour or even from moment to moment.  As we are willing to do so, we find the grace, or enabling power, to do what we could not do for ourselves." (pg. 14)

I seek to purge out the world's version of developing my talents.  I choose to stay focused on Christ and allow Him to define my talents and mission.

Greatness

Over the course of the last two weeks my family and I were able to see and experience some pretty remarkable things.  Some things we had seen before and others we had not.  Each day as I was personally enriched by my experiences the word "greatness" kept resonating through my mind.

I saw and felt greatness as I gazed at the tombs of George and Martha Washington, I saw greatness-or the potential for greatness-in the Senate Gallery at the United States Capitol building, I felt greatness when I stood in the room where the thoughts leading to the Constitution of the United States were realized, I felt greatness as I gazed at the gravesides of James and Dolley Madison, I felt greatness when I gazed at the Washington, DC temple and watched my husband and daughter go in and return from it, I felt greatness when I gazed over DC from the Washington Monument, I felt greatness when I reverently looked over the flag that hung so bravely over Fort McHenry during the War of 1812 that Francis Scott Key saw and was inspired by, I felt greatness as I looked at the top hat of Abraham Lincoln, I felt greatness as I stood before the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery, I felt greatness as I stood in Thomas Jefferson's home and looked at his books and realized the ideas of freedom penned in the Declaration of Independence were conceived there, I saw greatness in God's creations as I watched the ocean roar over and over, and I felt greatness when I watched dolphins swim 100 feet from my children every day they played in the ocean.

The word that over and over came to mind was profound greatness.  Our country is built on great men and men, our nation is great and it is powerful, the creations of God are truly great and temple's are another sign of God's greatness.  What was interesting to me was that while I thought of the word greatness I never thought of the word greater.  While they were great I realized they were not greater than me or anyone/thing else.  They were simply filled with greatness.

At Mount Vernon I over heard a conversation with a tour guide and a visitor.  The tour guide was commenting on how brilliant and great the Founding Fathers were.   He sighed and said sadly, "Our country will never again be blessed with that kind of greatness."  The first thought that came to me was how some believe that there would never be any more revelation in the Last Days either.  With both thoughts I boldly say, "No!" We have had greatness and revelation and we will continue to have greatness and revelation.

How is greatness to be realized? What does it look like?  The first point is that all can be great.  God's plan isn't a plan of competition or of who is better.  I think that greatness is achieved as we individually fulfil our mission that we were sent here to do.  This will look different for everyone.  Some will be popular, some will be national heroes, and some will live quiet lives never going far from home but making a difference where they stand by their quiet acts of service.

Another point begs to say that we must,

"...Be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works, that Christ, the Lord God Omnipotent, may seal you his, that you may be brought to heaven, that ye may have everlasting salvation and eternal life, through the wisdom, and power, and justice, and mercy of him who created all things, in heaven and in earth, who is God above all." Mosiah 5:15

What was interesting was that while I was impressed with the great houses the true power and testimony of their greatness came when I came to their graves/tombs.  They had fulfilled the measure of their creation.  They had done what they were asked to do.  They had achieved greatness.

Greatness can be achieved by you and I as we seek to fulfill the measure of our creation.  As we accept the call from the Lord and from the prophet to embrace our role as mothers in Zion we will receive the best reward possible.  We will obtain greatness and be able to stand with the other great men and women of the ages who also embraced their roles.  We will not be better than them and they will not be better than us.  We will all be great.

 

Embracing the role of motherhood requires that we do without some things.  It requires that we think of others.  It requires us to be okay when we don't get our way.  It requires us to gain a testimony in Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Redeemer so that when the world tells us that we are fools for choosing to submit to motherhood we will stand on solid ground and know we are doing the right thing.

Sister Beck said this about mothers who know,

"Rather than listening to the voices and partial truths of the world, she knows that gospel standards are based on eternal, unchangeable truths. She believes that to be “primarily responsible for the nurture of [her] children” is a vital, dignified, and “sacred responsibilit[y]” (“The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” Liahona, Oct. 1998, 24; Ensign, Nov. 1995, 102). To nurture and feed them physically is as much an honor as to nurture and feed them spiritually. She is “not weary in well-doing” and delights to serve her family, because she knows that “out of small things proceedeth that which is great” (D&C 64:33)." A Mother Heart Ensign May 2004.

Sister Beck also said,

 "Mothers who know do less. They permit less of what will not bear good fruit eternally. They allow less media in their homes, less distraction, less activity that draws their children away from their home. Mothers who know are willing to live on less and consume less of the world’s goods in order to spend more time with their children—more time eating together, more time working together, more time reading together, more time talking, laughing, singing, and exemplifying. These mothers choose carefully and do not try to choose it all. Their goal is to prepare a rising generation of children who will take the gospel of Jesus Christ into the entire world. Their goal is to prepare future fathers and mothers who will be builders of the Lord’s kingdom for the next 50 years. That is influence; that is power." Mothers Who Know, Ensign November 2007.

As I think about the things I felt with my family back east and as I think about the words of Sister Beck last night at our Relief Society Meeting  I feel empowered to continue to claim that greatness through fulfilling my great role of wife and mother in Zion.  The glories of the world and flatteries from the large and spacious building will pass quickly and soon I can stand with my family crowned with eternal happiness and peace.  I can smile at Eve, Sarah, Hannah, Mary, Sariah, Emma, Lucy, Martha, Abigail, Dolley,.... and I can know that choosing God's plan for women was the path to take.

Gender Roles

I've been going through some of my things.  I know why would I be doing that right now? I found in my church books the manual, A Parent's Guide, which is put out by the church.  I was flipping through it and one section caught my eye.  The section was: Teach Children to Accept and Understand Their Gender Roles. 

That goes right in conjunction with the Proclamation.  Anyway, time is short but I wanted to share some of the quotes:

From ages four to eleven, each child is learning how to be male or female and about what being male or female means about their relationships with others.  Toys, games, books, and friends revolve largely around gender.  Considerable controversy has been aroused of late around such terms as sexism, feminism, and machoism, as if there is something wrong with being too male, too female, or too virtuous.  President Spender W. Kimball said, "I sincerely hope that our Latter-day Saint girls and women, and men and boys, will drink deeply of the water of life and conform their lives to the beautiful and comprehensive roles the Lord assigned to them."  For Latter-day Saints, the matter of virtuous role behavior ought not to be confusing... 

....Within the gospel framework are some realities that there are some exclusive things men are to do and some that women are to do.  A most appropriate time for this development is the interlude between early childhood and adolescence...

President Kimball clarified the eternal significance of gender identity when he said: " Some people are ignorant or vicious and apparently attempting to destroy the concept of masculinity and femininity.  More and more girls dress, groom, and act like men.  More and more men dress, groom, and act like women.  The high purposes of life are damaged and destroyed by the growing unisex theory.  God made man in his own image, male and female made he them.  With relatively few accidents of nature, we are born male or female.  The Lord knew best.  Certainly, men and women who would change their sex status will answer to their Maker."

I thought those quotes were good in light of several blog discussions I've participated in lately.  Liberty was getting rid of some shirts the other day and I asked her why she didn't like them since I knew she liked the colors.  She responded, "They make me feel masculine." Okay, sounds like they need to go then! 

As I have been reviewing the traditions in my life I have become aware that there is some gender confusion in society.  My husband and I shield much from our children but there is still much of it that seeps in.  We have redefined roles in our family, reviewed clothing, and looked at behavior.  I have a friend who says, "Why would a women want to be like me?  I am a crass man.  Why do they want to shoulder my roles when God has given them something much more ennobling and beautiful to do?" Why indeed.  As I reflect I realize I need to be offensive  proactive in teaching correct gender roles in my family.