Skip to main content

Charly

The LDS culture certainly has ideas about a typical Relief Society woman. She can sew, quilt, cook, bake, garden, can, craft, decorate, sing or play an instrument, keep house, and raise a perfect family. The LDS comedy The RM makes fun of Relief Society and its more ridiculous traditions, such as elaborate centerpieces, cute handouts, and an overflow of interesting dinners for new moms.

Charly (the book), on the other hand, makes fun of this ideal in another light. Charly, a convert who does not fit this Mormon woman description at all, admits she plays a tape recording of the vacuum when a fellow Relief Society sister calls so that the sister thinks she's cleaning her house. However, she is a Relief Society sister in the true sense: she provides relief to those in need. She befriends the Native American sisters in her ward and strengthens them spiritually.

When I sometimes feel inadequate because I cannot sew or craft or can my own peaches, I remember Charly and the lesson that what makes a good wife, mother, and friend is not her homemaking skills but her spiritual gifts. Being a righteous woman is far more important and necessary than being an artistic one. We women ought to measure our success by our spirituality and measure our worth by Heavenly Father's love. We need to fulfill the purpose of Relief Society, as stated in the declaration. Of course, we are supposed to use our talents and learn new skills, but these do not define who we are. We are daughters of God with divine worth, qualities, and potential, and remembering and acting upon that knowledge is what qualifies us for the blessings of heaven.
Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
no one woman can do it all- you certainly have enough talents and gifts to share and fill in the gaps other sisters don't have-DAD
March 15, 2011 at 1:14 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mormon Messages

 ldsmediatalk.com  On the Church Web site, at the bottom of the home page and on the right sidebar, are featured videos called Mormon Messages. They are short clips from General Conference talks with music, photos, and background videos added to them. My favorite is the one entitled " Prayer ." Mormon Messages is a great way to share short and uplifting stories, testimonies, and counsel with family and friends, whether they are LDS or not. Above the featured video on the Church Web site is a toolbar allowing you to post the video or link on various social networking sites, such as Facebook. Mormon Messages also has a channel on YouTube, with videos in Spanish, to which you can subscribe. Share the light! Sharing Time: Which Mormon Message is your favorite?
3 comments
Read more

"Far above Rubies"

Certain TV shows and previews reminded me of a quote from Sister Margaret Nagauld : "Women of God can never be like women of the world. 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." We need to be classy women--women with manners, discipline, integrity, virtue, sincerity, and charity. Sister Nagauld isn't the only one to have said this: 1. "It is, unfortunately, all too easy to illustrate the confusion and distortion of womanhood in contemporary society. Immodest, immoral, intemperate women jam the airwaves, monopolize magazines, and slink across movie screens—all while being celebrated by the world...
5 comments
Read more

Put Down the Gavel

My friend posted on her blog an article about being a single LDS woman . Both ladies made many good points I will not reiterate here. Instead, I would like to discuss the motivation behind these posts: judgment. And judgment applies to all situations, not just to being single. In fact, once one of these women gets married, the judgment won't stop. The next nosy question she will be asked is, "When are you going to have children?" Then, "When are you going to have another child?" Then either, "Why aren't you going to have more?" or "Don't you think you have enough?" Then there will be comments and questions about her parenting choices and so on. Elder Neil L. Andersen shared this example in his October 2011 general conference talk : President J. Scott Dorius of the Peru Lima West Mission told me their story. He said: “Becky and I were married for 25 years without being able to have [or adopt] children. We moved several times...
4 comments
Read more