Thursday, April 11, 2013

in defense of the priesthood.

npr is usually on my radio when i am alone.  no one else can stand it i guess.  so it happened that while on my way to pick up the boys from art in henefer tonight i was listening to the utah version of natl. public radio and caught a snippet of a few women discussing the idea of women receiving the priesthood. a few of them pushing for women to receive it...and one soft but firm voice of reason in honoring the way things are.  the way the Saviour himself has set up His church.
 i have heard of  Kate Kelly.  a mormon mother and human rights lawyer who lives in DC.  she has started a quiet movement to petition the leadership of the church to, as she says it, "" ‘Let us have the priesthood’  ‘We are capable of doing more. What else can we do to help?’ "  i respect everyone's right to respectfully voice their opinions...so let me respectfully state mine.
since when do we not help?  since when do women NOT do just about everything?  since when do we need more to do?  if we are lining up to ask the culture, the country, the world  for major changes,then i would submit a few things that i actually need. 
i need help with the dishes at night.  i need more sleep.  i need an extra driver.  i need a miracle cream that shrinks my double chin.  i need women to love themselves.  i need them to show less skin and more brains.  i need to be respected, praised, and honored for cleaning up pee pee toilets and scraping puke out of the carpet and doing the dishes and making the beds, and ironing the white shirts, and not strangling my pre-teen, and wiping tears while little voices scream bloody murder in my ears.  i need our culture and country and our world to look at a womans seemingly unimportant and astoundingly, as some people call it:  "demeaning" role as something not to be ashamed of but as something to be cherished, something to strive for, something to aspire too, & something to be grateful for.  a PHD in motherhood would be nice.  what d'ya say byu? i think i will petition the Lord's university to offer that.
i don't need to be the bishop, i don't need to pass the sacrament, collect fast offerings, heal the sick or raise the dead.  i need the men in my life to be that strength i rely on in the middle of the sleepless night when i can ask for a blessing and finally get some rest. and when that preisthood is not available....  well in the words of dear Pres. Packer, "there are few things more powerful than the prayers of a righteous mother." 
our responsibilities are like our bodies.  they are different.  one is not better than the other. when our differences and strengths and weaknesses combine... beautiful things are created.  there is no doctrine that says mike can't clean, nurture, or cook.   there is no doctrine that says women having the priesthood is impossible...but motherhood is not mike's job and holding the priesthood is not mine.  and i for one am so okay with that.




11 comments:

Carrie said...

What a great little post, you said everything so perfect and I agree with you 100% Thank you for writing this!

Adri said...

Amen, Maggie! My friend, Ramona, told me to listen to the podcast from yesterday because her sister is the BYU Professor they interviewed. I started listening, but didn't get very far yet because, like you, NPR is what I usually listen to when no one else is around. ;) I am looking forward to hearing her response to what I have heard so far of Kate Kelly. But, I love your rebuttal. You are a woman to admire, my friend!

Team Burtenshaw said...

Those are my exact thoughts... Just watching my husband fulfill his priesthood responsibilities is enough for me to know that I don't need that on my plate, and I know when he sees me having babies that he thinks the same ;). I'm so thankful that we have separate but equal roles and that we can support each other in those roles at the same time. Another great post Mags!

Michelle said...

Just to play devil's advocate...I know there are righteous women who will never be mothers in this life. Maybe even righteous, childless women with inactive husbands. There are many people who don't fit into the mold most of us do. Let's perservere in humility but remember that things dont usually change unless people speak up. Let us have faith in god.

Meredith West said...

you spoke my mind! Thank you for putting it into words for me!

Meredith West said...

you put words to my thoughts! Thanks for posting! You are an amazing writer!

The Chezik Family said...

Very well stated. Could not agree more!

Strupp Family said...

This gave me goose bumps. I love the way you put it and I agree completely!! You're so great :)

tiff said...

Thank you thank you. A million times thank you!

Kritta22 said...

I completely agree. When I was investigating the church, I asked why can't women?
The missionaries said, Well to be honest, I believe women with their caring hearts would abuse the privilege of the priesthood. It's not meant for helping someone doing the dishes, or an owie on the playground, or to lift someone's spirit when WE think we need it.
It takes humbling, prayer and faith to ask for a blessing. All of which you need for a blessing to work.
I personally think that I would abuse it. I have seriously thought my world was going to end because someone said something rude or because I was a horrible mother and screamed at my kids. I would want to fix that with all the power I could and what's more powerful then the Priesthood. Plus 99% of the things I FREAK out about are just so dumb but in the moment, it's everything. I wake up the next morning and say, Krista, you nut job...what the heck where you stressed about??
Plus someone once said, "My hubby has the Priesthood, I hold my Priesthood every night." Or something like that.
There are times and places for the Priesthood.
Those women need to go to the temple.

Travis and Jamie said...

Amen Mags!

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