Gah! I did it again. I went to a blog that I normally find fits in with my opinions and found it different. Not that different is bad. Not that I know everything or even anything. Not that my opinion is the alpha and omega of opinions. It is, however, my opinion and I've actually worked on it. I have studied things out and I think I rely on the Spirit a lot.
The blog is "The Well Behaved Mormon Woman". One of her latest posts was on the announcement of the proposed actions being taken by the BSA and the LDS church's statement. Her blog, her rules. She gets to set the tone for it.
I agreed with most of her thoughts-- she had thought it out. She had relied on the Spirit. Our line in the sand is drawn when she says that we should all become used to the term "faithful gay Mormons" because it will become more prevelant in the church and that if a Mormon refers to himself/herself as gay then it will be because they have SSA and not that they are acting on it.
I don't have a problem with people having SSA. I do have a problem with it becoming so great of an issue in a "faithful" (note that I am not questioning faithfulness, I'm questioning the title) member's life that they are choosing to make it the identifying feature of their character.
This last Sunday, our Relief Society Presidency gave talks about the Visiting Teaching program. They were so good! The RS president referenced the people of the Book of Mormon right after the Savior's visit. They were one. There were no manner of "ites" among them. Creating ites is dangerous and does not build up the kingdom of God. The world is descending into a melee of ites. We have divided ourselves into political standings. We've divided ourselves into moral standings. I realized I just made myself a different ite than the author of that blog. It's so easy to do.
Hi! My name is Jill. I'm a faithful angry, judgemental, bossy, gossiping, at times flaky, food obsessed, impatient, arthritic, stinky footed Mormon. It just doesn't ring right. I happened upon an article on Psoriatic Arthritis a few weeks ago. Everyone who commented on it signed off with their list of ailments. What in the world? I don't want to be identified by my disease! I don't want to be identified by my list of sins and shortcomings. In the Young Women's program we learned our identity and the only one that counts. "We are daughters of our Heavenly Father who loves us." I am a daughter of God. I am His child. He loves me more than I can imagine. He will not, however, let me stay as I am and return to Him, despite His love for me. I have to be more than my ailments. I have to be more than my sins, thoughts, and weaknesses. I have to use the Atonement. I have to be better than I am today. I cannot fall back and say, "Well, I'm just angry. I had angry parents and I don't have a choice. It's my nature which is practically like DNA." I want to be identified by the good I do, the service I render, and the lives I touch for the better. While peer approval is nice, I really want those identifiers to be noted by the Savior and my Father in Heaven. I don't generally pronounce my shortcomings to everyone, so everyone won't know when I've used the Atonement to overcome them. Only those who will serve as my judges will be privy to that.
I don't want to be an ite. I don't want to make up my own identity or have someone make it up for me. I know who I am and who I want to be. That's enough.
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