Gender and Eternal Identity

Divine nature is given from God. Elder D. Todd Christofferson talked of his grandma. He said “Grandma Swenson never learned how to drive a car, but she knew how to help boys become priesthood men. A woman’s moral influence is nowhere more powerfully felt or more beneficially employed than in the home.” We live in a world where we think that equality means you have to be doing the thing as the same gender. This is not true. I grew up with my mother, for the most part, being in the home. She received her Bachelor’s degree in accounting when I was 2 or 3 years old. She was a smart lady. She graduated Magna Cum Laude, meaning she graduated with honors for how high her GPA was. She ended up working at Ernst & Young for 2 years. Right before we moved (I was about 5), my mom told the company she was going to quit to stay home with her kids. Her boss and co-workers thought she was making a bad move and she was missing out on having a great career. She didn’t care. She knew that raising her kids was more important than anything else she could do. My mom knew her divine nature of being a woman and was willing to sacrifice for the Lord and her family.

Margaret D. Nadauld said “The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity.” When I become a mother, my children will be my first priority because my “primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners.” For me, a career isn’t worth missing out on that.

 The priesthood is essential for us to have in our lives to help us reach our fullest potential. Elder D. Todd Christofferson  said “As men of the priesthood, we have an essential role to play in society, at home, and in the Church. But we must be men that women can trust, that children can trust, and that God can trust. In the Church and kingdom of God in these latter days, we cannot afford to have boys and men who are drifting. We cannot afford young men who lack self-discipline and live only to be entertained. We cannot afford young adult men who are going nowhere in life, who are not serious about forming families and making a real contribution in this world. We cannot afford husbands and fathers who fail to provide spiritual leadership in the home. We cannot afford to have those who exercise the Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God, waste their strength in pornography or spend their lives in cyberspace (ironically being of the world while not being in the world).” I know it’s a long quote but, to me it’s said perfectly. It relates back to men’s divine nature. Men have to be ready at a moment’s notice to use their priesthood and be prepared at all times to act. Without the priesthood, the church could not continue on, so it’s important to have worthy priesthood holders.