The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) -- the church of which I am a devoted member -- has updated its official policies to include written-out stances regarding same-gender marriages, and children whose parents are living in a same-gender relationship, whether it's "married" or "cohabiting."
You've likely already heard about this. Especially if you are an active social media user who is LDS or is a follower of LDS people on social media, you may have noticed that your Facebook newsfeed has recently blown up with a whole bunch of talk about it.
The LDS Church's policy change is centered around a very sensitive subject. It's a sensitive one personally to me, because I know and dearly love plenty of people who are either heartbroken or feel otherwise negatively affected by the policy change. With all the sincerity I've got, my heart goes out to these people I care about.
Lots of people are openly disagreeing with the policy change. "Lots of people" is an understatement. A number of those "lots" are folks whom I admire so much, and count as precious blessings in my life. I want these dear people to know that I, too, have not yet been able to fully wrap my head around the policy change. I do not yet understand it all the way. Might not be able to completely understand it for years to come.
Which leads to what I think the crux of my blog post here is meant to be: Not understanding everything right now. Both on an individual-person level, and on a bigger-group-of-people level.
As an individual person...me...Alison... There have been several occurrences in my life that left me thinking, Wow, I don't know why that had to happen. But nonetheless, it happened, for some reason that's beyond me. I grew up, from infancy onward, learning that there is a God -- a Heavenly Father -- who loves His children, keeps perfect track of each of His children, and has a perfect plan for each of His children. I grew up believing that. I still believe it now. The belief has grown stronger and stronger towards this present day. Rough, tough stuff has been known to knock on my door (and honestly, whose door has it not knocked on?), and lots of that stuff was stuff that I didn't understand, but I always tried to maintain a habit of trusting that God always knows what He's doing.
Now I'm going to shift my thoughts towards the bigger-group-of-people level I mentioned earlier. When I think of the LDS Church's members across the globe, particularly while I am contemplating this new policy change... I am reminded of how change in an individual's life can be difficult for that individual to understand. I think that can translate onto a bigger-group-of-people scale. The LDS Church's new policy update -- it is a change whose purpose and underlying reasoning can be difficult to understand. Clearly. Obviously. Confusion regarding it is everywhere. It's evident. It cannot be denied.
For those who are constituents of this "bigger-group-of-people" that's affected by this change: To you, especially those of you whose hearts are troubled by the change, perhaps I can possibly share some words of comfort. I have no idea if it will provide you with any ounce of comfort. But I will try:
If you're an LDS kid like me, you probably know this line of scripture very, very well: "Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good..."
That's the first line of Alma 37:37. It's from a Scripture Mastery chapter (physically only two verses away from the Scripture Mastery verse itself). Alma 37:37 is a very personal-sounding verse that incorporates peaceful and quite-lovely word painting. It provides eloquently-phrased advice on what can be done to help keep a close and happy heart-to-heart relationship with the Lord.
But what I keep thinking is, Couldn't that first line be incredibly applicable to how the Brethren (the Church leadership) counsel together, and especially how they undoubtedly counsel with the Lord? In my mind, I imagine that the Brethren counsel far more thoughtfully and thoroughly with each other, and especially with the Lord, than I can even fathom. Surely, absolutely, totally of-course-ly, they "counsel with the Lord in all [their] doings." I know, with no doubts, that these Brethren -- these wonderful men who love the Lord and His children so, so much -- truly are men of God, and they understand that this church is not under their name (or any one of their own names), but under Jesus Christ's name. It's Christ's church. It's God's Kingdom. They know that. Oh how they know that, and understand that. They "counsel with the Lord" in their councils and in their doings. They do.
And so my bottom line is, Because they really do counsel with the Lord -- ever so thoughtfully, thoroughly, prayerfully, and faithfully -- I trust them, and I trust that they are doing their absolute best to lead Jesus Christ's Church in the proper direction, hand-in-hand and side-by-side with Christ Himself.
Again, I don't know if my words here are helpful or comforting to anyone reading, but they are what they are, and they come from my heart.
As a sort-of side topic: In light of the LDS Church's new policy change, I think something that may pop up every now and then is the assertion that some people have: "You're just letting yourself be blindly led!"
Well, going back to the crux of "not understanding everything right now," I currently find myself in a state of desiring to learn more, for myself, about the Church's policy change and the "why" behind it. Like I said before, I don't fully understand it yet. But also like I said before, I trust the leaders of our church. I am trusting, but I also intend to pray and study things out for myself -- regarding this particular issue, and whatever-else interesting (for lack of a better word) changes that will come my way in life. My opinion is that I don't call that "being blindly led," since I am also doing my own personal seeking for better understanding. I call it "allowing myself to be led, while conjunctively using my own will, mind, and heart to figure things out by way of the Holy Ghost's assistance."
You've likely already heard about this. Especially if you are an active social media user who is LDS or is a follower of LDS people on social media, you may have noticed that your Facebook newsfeed has recently blown up with a whole bunch of talk about it.
The LDS Church's policy change is centered around a very sensitive subject. It's a sensitive one personally to me, because I know and dearly love plenty of people who are either heartbroken or feel otherwise negatively affected by the policy change. With all the sincerity I've got, my heart goes out to these people I care about.
Lots of people are openly disagreeing with the policy change. "Lots of people" is an understatement. A number of those "lots" are folks whom I admire so much, and count as precious blessings in my life. I want these dear people to know that I, too, have not yet been able to fully wrap my head around the policy change. I do not yet understand it all the way. Might not be able to completely understand it for years to come.
Which leads to what I think the crux of my blog post here is meant to be: Not understanding everything right now. Both on an individual-person level, and on a bigger-group-of-people level.
As an individual person...me...Alison... There have been several occurrences in my life that left me thinking, Wow, I don't know why that had to happen. But nonetheless, it happened, for some reason that's beyond me. I grew up, from infancy onward, learning that there is a God -- a Heavenly Father -- who loves His children, keeps perfect track of each of His children, and has a perfect plan for each of His children. I grew up believing that. I still believe it now. The belief has grown stronger and stronger towards this present day. Rough, tough stuff has been known to knock on my door (and honestly, whose door has it not knocked on?), and lots of that stuff was stuff that I didn't understand, but I always tried to maintain a habit of trusting that God always knows what He's doing.
Now I'm going to shift my thoughts towards the bigger-group-of-people level I mentioned earlier. When I think of the LDS Church's members across the globe, particularly while I am contemplating this new policy change... I am reminded of how change in an individual's life can be difficult for that individual to understand. I think that can translate onto a bigger-group-of-people scale. The LDS Church's new policy update -- it is a change whose purpose and underlying reasoning can be difficult to understand. Clearly. Obviously. Confusion regarding it is everywhere. It's evident. It cannot be denied.
For those who are constituents of this "bigger-group-of-people" that's affected by this change: To you, especially those of you whose hearts are troubled by the change, perhaps I can possibly share some words of comfort. I have no idea if it will provide you with any ounce of comfort. But I will try:
If you're an LDS kid like me, you probably know this line of scripture very, very well: "Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good..."
That's the first line of Alma 37:37. It's from a Scripture Mastery chapter (physically only two verses away from the Scripture Mastery verse itself). Alma 37:37 is a very personal-sounding verse that incorporates peaceful and quite-lovely word painting. It provides eloquently-phrased advice on what can be done to help keep a close and happy heart-to-heart relationship with the Lord.
But what I keep thinking is, Couldn't that first line be incredibly applicable to how the Brethren (the Church leadership) counsel together, and especially how they undoubtedly counsel with the Lord? In my mind, I imagine that the Brethren counsel far more thoughtfully and thoroughly with each other, and especially with the Lord, than I can even fathom. Surely, absolutely, totally of-course-ly, they "counsel with the Lord in all [their] doings." I know, with no doubts, that these Brethren -- these wonderful men who love the Lord and His children so, so much -- truly are men of God, and they understand that this church is not under their name (or any one of their own names), but under Jesus Christ's name. It's Christ's church. It's God's Kingdom. They know that. Oh how they know that, and understand that. They "counsel with the Lord" in their councils and in their doings. They do.
And so my bottom line is, Because they really do counsel with the Lord -- ever so thoughtfully, thoroughly, prayerfully, and faithfully -- I trust them, and I trust that they are doing their absolute best to lead Jesus Christ's Church in the proper direction, hand-in-hand and side-by-side with Christ Himself.
Again, I don't know if my words here are helpful or comforting to anyone reading, but they are what they are, and they come from my heart.
As a sort-of side topic: In light of the LDS Church's new policy change, I think something that may pop up every now and then is the assertion that some people have: "You're just letting yourself be blindly led!"
Well, going back to the crux of "not understanding everything right now," I currently find myself in a state of desiring to learn more, for myself, about the Church's policy change and the "why" behind it. Like I said before, I don't fully understand it yet. But also like I said before, I trust the leaders of our church. I am trusting, but I also intend to pray and study things out for myself -- regarding this particular issue, and whatever-else interesting (for lack of a better word) changes that will come my way in life. My opinion is that I don't call that "being blindly led," since I am also doing my own personal seeking for better understanding. I call it "allowing myself to be led, while conjunctively using my own will, mind, and heart to figure things out by way of the Holy Ghost's assistance."
