September 17, 2010

Tonight I read The Family: A Proclamation to the World. These are the things that stood out to me: "All human beings male and female are created in the image of God." Note that both genders are created in the image of a singular God. This is very profound for me. I take that it could mean two different things. One, that "God," as a being, is made of both genders. The other is that "God" is a term that actually includes both a male and female; a husband and wife, working together as one. I believe the second is true. And thus, whenever I read in the scriptures any references to "God" my mind and heart always include both my Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother.

I love that the family proclamation is a declaration of what God's standard is... what his commandments are... not a mandate that everyone must follow, but a presentation of a choice: if one wishes to follow God's pattern, this is it.

I love this paragraph: "Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to LOVE and CARE for each other and for their children." "Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, and to teach them to love and serve one another, observe the commandments of God, and be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives - mothers and fathers - will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations."

Later in the proclamation it says, "By divine design, fathers are to preside [be in authority; administer, conduct, control, direct, govern, lead, manage, operate, run...] over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners."

I looked at the definition of "responsible" and feel it is definitely worthy to make note of: it means "accountable, in charge." "Responsible is liable to be required to give an account, as of one's actions or of the discharge of a duty or trust." So when one is responsible for something, it doesn't necessarily mean they themselves have to be the only one to fulfill the duty... it means they will be accountable as to how that duty was fulfilled. So fathers are responsible for providing the necessities of life and protection for their families. I imagine a father who wants to fulfill his divine responsibility would constantly be asking himself: "How are my family's needs being provided for? How is my family being protected?" Those are the questions a father will need to answer come accountability time. And a mother's responsibility is for the nurture of her children. So a mother will be answerable for these questions: "How are my children developing? How and what are my children being taught? What are my children learning? How and what are my children being fed?" I envision a husband and wife working together in council and asking each other for help in certain areas to ensure that they can give the best possible answers for those questions as to what they will be held accountable for.

I did note that there is an expectation of fathers... not a responsibility, an expectation: fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness. Synonyms of "preside" that I found worthy of noting are: "administer, conduct, direct, govern, lead, manage, operate, run..." So if this is the Lord's expectation of his sons as fathers, then I, as a mother, want to ensure that along with teaching my sons to be loving and righteous, that I am teaching them the skills to govern, lead and manage so they will be prepared to fulfill the Lord's expectation of them. It's important to remember that a good leader is a good follower as well. I want to teach leadership skills to both my sons and daughters for they both will have many opportunities to be in positions of leadership. Even in my patriarchal blessing it tells me to accept the leadership opportunities that will come into my life. I want my sons to clearly understand the Lord's expectation of them in presiding over their families in love and righteousness. I love the family proclamation and do believe it to be divinely inspired. I have enjoyed my study of it tonight and feel like it will help me become a better parent and to better fulfill my responsibilities.