I just ate the most fantastic pear.
Wait! No, that's not what I wanted to tell you.
What I wanted to tell you was this: You're Fantastic.
I am saying this simply because I think we have a cultural difficulty in the church, and it's one that (interestingly enough) gives women the advantage. I'm talking about the coddling we get in Relief Society, as opposed to the numerous 'Repent Ye!'s the men seem to get in priesthood.
Now, don't get me wrong--I see nothing wrong with telling the women of the church that they're pretty awesome. I think that we really do tend to be a bit hard on ourselves, and it's important to recognize and remember the value that each of us has.
However...do men not feel this way too? And yet, while the Relief Society gets lessons on how to find joy in our lives (including the important reminder to stop and smell the roses), the men get long lists of things that they're not doing and are told to (essentially) shape up or ship out. (Well, maybe not the 'ship out' part, but the 'shaping up' is definitely in there.)
So, to all you men out there, the men who learned incredulously of the deluxe lounges available for use in the women's bathrooms at BYU, the men who get the chastising talk(s) at Priesthood Session at General Conference, the men who feel culturally obligated to joke about their own ineptitude even as they praise their wives' wisdom, virtue and beauty, to you men I say, WELL DONE.
You guys are pretty great.
You're great fathers and husbands, sons and uncles, nephews and brothers. You do your home teaching. You carry inhumanly heavy boxes and unnavigable furniture down (and up) numerous flights of stairs. You give blessings and advice and you put up with our PMS and scatterings of beauty products and enormous hair clogs in the drains. You serve faithfully, giving up your evenings and weekends to try to provide leadership for this church of ours, and you do it all while wearing suits and ties. Good grief. Frankly, I don't know how you do it.
So women, just take a moment (even though Father's Day is totally over for another year) to celebrate the men in your life. Just. Heavens. Just tell them how amazing and wonderful they really are.
Like they tell us every week.
6 comments:
I started laughing so hard when I read the first line of the post. Really hard. Thanks. :)
Good post! I can agree with that, though, that the men don't get enough praise, it seems. I keep being so impressed by all these guys I know going on missions, that they all do it so willingly, it's just so amazing. Thanks for the reminder. *calls up George*
The also play hilarious tickle games with toddlers. Which is awesome.
True dat! And after a slew of slightly infuriating church meetings yesterday, I feel a new-found appreciation for the single men in the church. They have it especially hard with the whole "you're not doing what you're supposed to do because you aren't married yet" thing.
Oh man! I have much too much to say about this, but really, as single females we are simply told not to worry about our singleness but to just worry about living life to the fullest and enjoying how awesome it is. Which I am more than thrilled to do.
Anyway, so props to you guys who stay strong despite the discouragement and are willing to wait on the Lord's timing instead of simply marrying anyone with the proper anatomy because you are being told that "now" is the right time to be married.
I miss those lounges in the girls bathroom. I took such great naps there.
Hear, hear... Hear, hear...
Great post, Bethyloo!
And I miss taking naps on those couches, too. Wait, I think I just miss naps...
Not really related to your post but about the lovely counsel given at church that we were discussing tonight.
http://thisroadtraveled.blogspot.com/2008/06/marriage-button.html
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