real joy

Several years ago, I had a visiting teacher who was very much a feminist. She proceeded to indoctrinate me in her thinking. Dissatisfied with being an extremely intelligent woman that stayed home and raised children, she always complained about the lot of women. I swallowed her propaganda hook, line, and sinker nearly destroying my own family. In turn I began to be dissatisfied with my chosen vocation, homemaking.

Determined to leave oppression behind me, I returned to college with the view of joining the work force and divorcing my husband. Thankfully, one of my children had delicate health, which forced me to rethink my goals and this woman's influence.

I thank my Father in Heaven that this unrighteousness in me was thwarted. After looking back on my homemaking career, I have to say I have loved it. No, not every minute. But generally it has been the best 3 decades of my life. I've learned to love organizing, cooking, cleaning, serving, teaching, and creating. I love my husband, who was never what my "friend" convinced me he was. I love my children, who were never the burden the sad sister taught me to believe of them. I'm so grateful I learned to serve and nurture with a good attitude, or I might have missed this most precious, fleeting time. Serving my family, I have learned the meaning of real joy. Femininity is a lot more fun and satisfying than feminism.

“I suppose you would say it is a man’s viewpoint to throw a burden upon a woman to maintain the stability and the sweetness of marriage, but this seems to be her divine nature. She has a superior spirituality in the marriage relationship, and the opportunity to encourage, uplift, teach, and be the one who sets the example in the family for righteous living. When women come to the point of realizing that it is more important to be superior than to be equal, they will find the real joy in living those principles that the Lord set out in his divine plan” (Teachings of Howard W. Hunter, 139).

“It seems strange that women want to enter into professions and into work and into places in society on an equality with men, wanting to dress like men and carry on men’s work. I don’t deny the fact that women are capable of doing so, but as I read the scriptures, I find it hard to reconcile this with what the Lord has said about women—what he has said about the family, what he has said about children. It seems to me that in regard to men and women, even though they might be equal in many things, there is a differentiation between them that we fully understand. I hope the time never comes when women will be brought down to the level with men, although they seem to be making these demands in meetings held . . . all over the world” (Teachings of Howard W. Hunter, 150).