and now.......what MORMON WOMEN ARE

I am a Mary not a Martha. So, indulge me with a lengthy post on what.... MORMON WOMEN ARE. Put down the dishes and read a while....

Its very simple, really, it is. What Mormon women ARE. We,...listen to the collective gasp.... are NORMAL!!!!! There, I said it. Normal. Usually 'normal' is my very very least favorite word. It just sounds so 'nasal' and denotes mediocrity and thus transcends the 'ick' word list to deep bottom.

However, for this discussion, that word is the one I am going to start with. Normal. Yup. We genuinely hate doing errands, scheduling households, vacuuming out the car, dealing with liquid 'sick' in the middle of the night, sitting through long meetings at church, trying to find order in our freezers.....all of that, yep, we pretty much hate it all. Just like you. There is no Pollyanna perfect singing ballads as we go about our homemaking day to day blowing sunshine around. I wish.

And yet, we ARE there. We are trying. I will tell you why with one name. Jesus Christ. Mormon women are just trying their darnedest to copy HIM. Do what he has asked and do it as wonderfully well as we possibly can.

We are still trying, when it does seem so many have given up. Sometimes we give up too. I do. There are times I just want to curl up in a fetal position and sit in the corner of my closet with a sign on the door that says, "DONE".

Every woman I have ever known has those moments. Knowing that my Savior is in fact REAL, very real and knows me and wants me to succeed in the precious work of nurturing children and building a solid family, makes me well. I open that 'proverbial closet door' take the 'done' sign off and just keep going and trying some more.



There are so many dimensions to women. Too many to type. Layers upon layers of life make us who we are daily. Mormon women are no different except, by one radiant definition that pulls our divine nature to the forefront. We know we are daughters of a Heavenly Father. We know he loves us. We know he has a plan for us.



Mormon women have an assurance that every little effort, every little attempt at following our Savior, every little tiny bit of energy we put forward to help and serve, truly changes us. We become more beautiful. We become more centered. We become more courageous. We give up stuff that the world says we shouldn't because it eventually gives us more. The beautiful 'more' that you simply cannot get from following another course.



When you give up more, you will get more, later. Fact. AND...when you give up the world you get the world. This is my darling brother in law Jeff and his sweet wife Lisa. They have 5 kids. Their latest being Miss Abigail Rose, of the infant heart defect/drama/surgery/success. Love like this doesn't happen from being self involved and self serving. It comes from sacrifice and serving each other. Passion happens when you cling to the best and brightest in life.



Oh, please don't get me wrong. These two monkeys above don't know a thing. We have NO IDEA what we are doing. Seriously. We don't. Our reality is that we are TOGETHER and TRYING. Enduring the life we have built for all its beauty and all its boundaries. They go together, you see, .......BOUNDARIES = BEAUTY. Mormon women know this.



Family life. Building relationships that we deem eternal. Supporting. Communicating. Trying. Working at all the hard stuff everyone would love to avoid. All of it. Its hard. Its sometimes painful. It matters. Mormon women know that.


(photo courtesy of http://www.kitchencorners.com/)

Literally passing on life. Putting your life on a proverbial 'alter'. Giving life from life. Mormon women do this. We know motherhood is divine. We feel the guidance of God in our roles. We are willing to follow. This is strength and this is light and life and this is who we are.



Mormon women believe in sharing what is true. We are not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. If I found a buried treasure, the first thing I would want to do is show somebody. It is the same thing with the purity and peace of being a "Mormon Woman". I just don't want you to be mad at me later for not tellin' ya.




This is a photo of my friend Shauna. She taught me the greatest lesson one night. We were executing the now antiquated "Ward Activity". Unless you have served as a chairman or been married to one, you will never know exactly how truly exhausting they are. We had been at the church for probably 13/14 hours. Everyone had gone home. The kitchen was still a mess. I told Shauna she had done enough and to go ahead and go home and I would finish the rest. She had defiantly done WAY more than her share. She said, "I'm staying till the bitter end". She did. She didn't leave until that kitchen was moped and looked like no one had ever even used it.

"I'm staying till the bitter end". We do... We don't just 'do our share'. We endure.



There is not a secret thing about our temple promises. There ARE 'sacred' things. These promises give us direction and connection. Mormon women want both. Recognizing that we are spiritual beings having an earthly experience, instead of earthly beings having a spiritual one. We were spirits first. It is, oh, so hard to remember that, but we try.



Don't forget especially this Sunday, Mother's Day. That behind every cupcake, decoration, necklace, hairdo, outfit, party, dinner, clean towel, wholesome meal, wiped counter top, and remembered activity.....is a MOM. Maybe not a Mormon mom, or maybe not a Mormon woman, but somebody beautiful and female is usually is behind it ALL. Lets support each other instead of tear each other down, shall we?



Its easy to feel invisible with what we do as women isn't it? We are a force. But, usually the force behind something or someone else. Its still a force though. I own it. I stopped seeking validation from outer sources long long ago to pat my head and tell me I am worthwhile. I am NOT invisible, or invincible, but I AM doing a very important work with my life as a 'behind the scenes' foundation for all.

You have to define your place or foundation yourself. I can't tell you how to do that for you, but for me...well,....lucky you, you got to read all about it today. :)

I am a Mormon woman. I am ridiculously imperfect. I am flawed. I am struggling. AND I am still trying. I am still striving. I trust His plan for me and my family.

I was offended in the extreme by what I heard. I felt a passionate chord of defense resonate loud enough in my brain to respond in kind. Forgive me.

Today, well, ..... I felt the story needed an end. Happy end? Don't know, I'm still in the middle of my story and can exactly say, but it is has been a ride full of the gorgeous vistas of life I would have missed if I did not jump on when I did.

I'm so so grateful I did. I am a Mormon woman who knows other Mormon women, so ask me next time you want to know who we are. My answer, this time, is spot on.

xo
sacajawea