Welcome to Day Three of Draft Week.
This post from my draft folder comes from August 20, 2022. I’m not sure why I never finished it, but this continues to be a sensitive issue for me. Just last week, we had a heavy conversation along these lines with my in-laws.
Some of the information in this post is now out-of-date, but I’m going to leave it as-is.
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A few weeks ago I came away from a Church meeting feeling very heavy hearted from some comments that were made by some of the older members of the group. The majority of their discussion was aimed toward how terrible our world is today - how corrupt our nation is, how lazy our children are, how immoral society has become, and how misaligned our values are. While I agree that our world is a difficult place, it's not helpful for me as a parent or a Christian to sit in a Church meeting that makes me feel so hopeless. After all, I have to survive here and raise my children now.
I know how horrible the world is - I wrestle with it every day - but I need to feel like there's hope for the future and hope for my children. I need to leave Church feeling uplifted. Plus, when all the commentary is directed toward censuring the current state of society, I take it a bit personally because this is my time.
I came away from that meeting wishing that I could have turned the focus of the lesson toward the wonderful, miraculous things that are going on in our current era - the things that all of us, young and old - are taking part in. I tried to push the commentary in this direction, but it didn't take. Habitually the discussion dominators steered us right back to the weak, the bad, and the ugly.
With all of this said, I realize that I’m not entirely innocent. The older I get, the more I adopt a “kids these days!” mentality where I think everything about my generation is the way things should be, and everything modern and new is poopoo (ya’ll know you didn’t invent the hair claw, right?), so even though the commentary is upsetting to me at times, I understand what drives it.
There's a paragraph from a Gospel Principles lesson that has always stuck with me. It says:
"Our Father in Heaven knows who we are and what we did before we came here. He has chosen the time and place for each of us to be born so we can learn the lessons we personally need and do the most good with our individual talents and personalities."
So far, the time and place for me to 1) learn the lessons I personally need and 2) do the most good with my individual talents and personality has been from 1984-2023 in Salt Lake County, Utah.
I don't know all the reasons I was chosen to experience mortality during this particular era, but in many ways, it seems like a good fit. As I did my Come Follow Me reading this week, which is focused on Queen Esther, a pondering point from the manual stuck with me. It says:
"Ponder how [the Lord] has has guided your life in ways that allow you to bless others. What are some circumstances or relationships that you feel He has guided you to for such a time as this? (Esther 4:14) If you have a patriarchal blessing, consider reading it to learn more about the work the Lord has for you to do."
Queen Esther by Minerva Teichert, 1939
From a Church standpoint, here are some wonderful things that are happening in our time that can give us hope:
We have an amazing prophet for our day - President Russell M. Nelson. He is brilliant, sincere, healthy, and loving.
We have temples all over the world that are being built with increasing speed. President Nelson has announced 100 new temples since 2018. We have 282 temples in operation, under construction, or announced (HERE are some interesting statistics to enjoy).
Our Church has become more focused on Christ and covenants. The For the Strength of Youth pamphlet my mother-in-law grew up with was entirely focused on appearance and behavior in public - highly centered on image and what people think of you. The modern For the Strength of Youth pamphlet is focused on growing closer to the Savior.
(Two months after I wrote this, the new For the Strength of Youth Guide was introduced in General Conference, which focuses even more on growing closer to the Savior).
FTSOY over time (I used the 1990 version for most of my youth, and the 2001 version came out right before I left Young Women)
The newest FTSOY Guide (2022)
We have miraculous technologies and excellent learning and communication abilities. Our gospel learning opportunities are greater than ever as we have immediate access to hundreds of years of study materials and cross referencing. When the prophet speaks, we have transcripts and videos at our fingertips instantly. We have every resource to become gospel scholars.
Many errors in Church teachings and policies from the past are being or have been corrected or addressed.
Women have taken on more roles in the Church, both in lay ministry and in careers.
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I never finished this post, but my thoughts on the topic remain in tact. I feel like opposition grows equally in both directions over time, so if we are going to become a more righteous, Christlike people, the evil we face is going to become greater as well. It's imperative for me to be able to see the good in the world and to experience hope and peace, especially as I raise children. Yes, this world is a difficult place, but it’s also pretty amazing.
