It's More Than Casseroles and Conferences

I have lots of things I could blog about.  But, as I was driving my mother and myself to dinner tonight, she told me that my thoughts on "Conferences and Casseroles" would make a good blog title.  

Most of you know that I am a proud member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  As a woman of this church, I am also a member of the largest women's organization in the world: the Relief Society.  Established by the Prophet Joseph Smith in March 1842, the organization still stands strong today.  When instituted, Joseph Smith stated that this organization was meant "for the exercise of all benevolent purposes."  

Having grown up in the Church, I distinctly remember Daddy coming home early once a week to relieve my mother of her "motherly duties" so she could attend a weekly gathering of the sisters in the Relief Society.  Sometimes my father would even take my sister and me to get root beer floats at Friendly's, and that made being without Mom alright for a short while.  She would usually come home with some handicraft or new recipe to try out on us.  

If someone had asked me the first word that came to mind when they said "Relief Society" a few years back, I would have immediately blurted out the association, "casseroles."  To many young women in the Church, Relief Society is an old ladies' club that delivers casseroles to widows and new moms.  But oh how wrong they are!  It's far more than the casseroles and women's conferences!  And yet, it took me four years of being in the Relief Society to finally catch the vision.  

I look at my life, especially the past 5 years, and sometimes have feelings of dismay and despair because all my friends are now married and most of them are beginning families.  I've always wanted to be married.  I thought I was ready when I was 19!  I grew up like many little girls playing with Barbies, but my Barbies always ended up marrying Ken in my pretend LDS temple.  I have always wanted to be a wife and mother.  My heart aches (and somedays even breaks) with each passing day that puts me at, what feels like, a farther distance from being sealed in the Temple to a worthy Priesthood holder.  I will now be older than all my female family members when they got married (my mom, sister, aunts, grandmothers, and cousins).  

BUT...

I do have one advantage over all of them:  I am able to focus on becoming me.  Just me.  Not a wife nor a mother (though those are my heart's strongest desires).  It is distressing at times, but I know that I have come so much farther than I could have if I was in a family ward.  Being in the young single adults' ward has allowed me to realize the full purpose of Relief Society: to become a true disciple of Jesus Christ.  It's not about the age-old traditions of baking bread and delivering casseroles.  It's not even about book clubs or conferences.  It's about learning to love who we are, growing as daughters of God.  

The Church's website states, "In the first meeting of the Relief Society, Sister Emma Smith [the first Relief Society president] said, 'We are going to do something extraordinary.' Relief Society is filled with examples of ordinary women who have accomplished extraordinary things as they exercise faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ."  I know this.  I have come into contact with women who have so many insecurities and heart aches, but the world would never know what they are struggling with, as they are inspiring and productive leaders and examples.  I love every sister with whom I have come in contact and they have shown me the way to become a better disciple of Jesus Christ.  They have taught me true charity.  They have taught me how to love and be loved.  They have shown me how to live a virtuous and exemplary life.

We are often told as daughters of a King to "live up to our privilege."  I have often struggled with listening to the demons in my head and "settling" for something less than what I deserve.  Please, do not do this!  A loving Heavenly Father wants us to be happy, so much so that He sent His Son to suffer every imperfect thing we must suffer through, feel, and experience.  The concept of living up to our potential is simple, but it is never easy.  We are cast to and fro in today's corrupt world, even among those who we think are friends and our allies (or in my case someone who I thought would be my future spouse), being told we are not good enough, worthy of love, or beautiful.  This is not true.  We truly do have a divine potential to live up to.  Never give up.  Believe that there is something greater waiting for you, know that your time will come.