Happy Mother’s Day to my beautiful Relief Society Sisters! I’ve missed our weekly contact; I’ve missed your smiling faces & warm hugs. This typed out lesson is a sad substitute for our lively discussions & spiritual feasts, but I suppose this gives us an opportunity to stay in touch. In the meantime, know that you are missed!!
 

We have the blessing of luxuriating in the recent conference messages, immersing ourselves in the scriptures & reading the “Come Follow Me” manual. That is an uplifting exercise for our mental & spiritual well-being. The conference message I’ve been assigned to review is Jean B. Bingham, Relief Society General President, “United in Accomplishing God’s Work.”
 

Two years ago, my daughter had twin boys. They were born at the same time, they have the same parents, they are being raised in the same environment, but they couldn’t be more different. They were born with different personalities - one has a quick temper & the other is more laid back, one loves physical activity & the other loves books & looking at the small details, one loves food & the other is pickier.
 

Just as the twins are - YOU are unique – you were born with distinct gifts & talents. Each son & daughter of God came with a personality that was developed in the Spirit. You are one of a kind!  Your talents are different from mine. Some gifts & talents are easily recognized and some are not.  Some of your talents may compliment mine and together we can accomplish many things. We were born into families (which is an eternal unit) and Lucifer would like nothing more than to "confuse us about our divine worth and covenant responsibilities." His goal is to destroy families.

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How you fit into your family may be different from how I fit into mine, but all of us fit in a family either as a mother, child, sister, aunt or grandmother. We have family members that are fathers, brothers, uncles & grandfathers.  In those families we know that happiness prevails when we are loving, kind and work together. As members of the church we have been blessed with the Priesthood, which is God’s power & authority on earth. Some of the men in our lives hold an office in the Priesthood, but all of us have been blessed with priesthood power and authority. "Our roles (as men & women) are complementary rather than competitive." President Nelson said, "One of the most important aspects that I am reminded of when I come to this restoration of the priesthood site is the important role that women played in the Restoration. When Joseph first started to translate the Book of Mormon, who did the writing? Well, he did a little, but not much. Emma stepped in. When Joseph went to the woods to pray, where did he go? He went where his mother went to pray." "Like Emma and Lucy and Joseph, we are most effective when we are willing to learn from one another and are united in our goal to become disciples of Jesus Christ and help others along that path."

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How can we work together as husbands & wives or as organization (formerly known as auxiliary) leaders? "It takes effort and time to really counsel together—to listen to one another, understand others’ viewpoints and share experiences. The process results in more inspired decisions. Whether at home or in our Church responsibilities, the most effective way to fulfill our divine potential is to work together, blessed by the power and authority of the priesthood in our differing yet complementary roles."

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Many years ago, I was involved with changing the community perception of the high school where my children attended. I worked tirelessly with the school district to make changes.  As things started to improve, district employees started to take credit for improvements and national recognition. My husband wisely counseled me that much can be accomplished if it doesn’t matter who gets credit. Today we see how our political system is a mess because our elected officials can’t work together. They each want to take credit for something well done or blame someone else when things don’t go as planned. Sister Bingham calls it the “me first” message.

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"Women possess distinctive, divine gifts and are given unique responsibilities, but those are not more – or less – important than men’s gifts and responsibilities. All are designed and needed to bring about Heavenly Father’s divine plan to give each of His children the best opportunity to fulfill his or her divine potential."

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We could accomplish so much if we could see one another through our spiritual eyes. What would happen if we walked arm in arm to increase love in our families, in our communities and in the world?

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"Men need to become true partners rather than assume they are solely responsible or act as 'pretend' partners while women carry out much of the work. Women need to be willing to step forward [and] take [their] rightful and needful place as partners rather than thinking they need to do it all by themselves or wait to be told what to do."

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Let’s be united in moving God’s work along.  Let’s be united in recognizing the strengths in each other. Let’s cheer each other on. We’re not in a competitive race to see who can return to Heavenly Father with the most merits. We’re on a journey to help each other along the way – let’s walk arm in arm to get there together.

 

Love you, 
Carol Turley