Monday, January 24, 2011

Endless Meetings

Lately I have heard several complaints about the so called 'endless meetings' that members are required to attend.  One sister complained that her husband (who is an EQ President) is overworked and not at home enough.  I disagree. 

As members we have covenanted to give of our time and talents and even our lives if necessary to establish the Lords Kingdom upon the Earth.  Let's compare that covenant with the actual hours spent doing church service.

As an Elders Quorum President on Sundays he will attend PEC for an hour and will then be present like the rest of his family for the 3 hour block. 

He will most likely stay after church to conduct personal priesthood interviews and home teaching interviews.  He will have his own Presidency meeting (which I encourage to be weekly).  He will often spend his evening’s home teaching or attending training and other priesthood meetings.  With the new policy in place he will get to clean the chapel regularly with his family.  
 
While I understand that he will often be away from his family his wife needs to understand that she and her children will be blessed as they sustain him in his office.  There should never ever be any hint of a complaint from her.
Wives have the primary responsibility to nurture the children in the home and need to be supportive in every way. 

At the last stake priesthood meeting I counseled the brethren that wives that complain need to be reproved betimes with sharpness as moved upon by the Holy Ghost (as per the Doctrine & Covenants), lest the children should see the church in a negative light and a spirit of contention should enter the home. 

One way to do this is during family or couple prayers.  This is one of the most effective means the Lord has given us as priesthood holders to correct and uplift our wives.  During prayers they remain silent and cannot talk or interrupt.  This is a unique opportunity.  A prayer may include many corrective steps that wives need to take, whether it be with regards to her living the Word of Wisdom more faithfully (to help her perhaps lose a little weight so she can feel better about herself) or to ask her to stop repeating the same things over and over again (I have learned to not use the word nagging during such prayers). 

I told the brethren that this was the most correct way to reprove your wives and that a man would get closer to her through this means than by any other.

14 comments:

diogenes said...

President,
Corrective prayers are inspired advice! I have found that since I have consistently used such prayers to teach my wife, that she has allowed me to do all the praying and she has become much more subdued. Her increasing silence is evidence of the spirit working on her. Again, this is an opportunity I have overlooked. Thanks

Stake Pres. said...
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MormonRaised said...

I find a more effective way to correct my wife is through priesthood blessings. When I give her a blessing, I am speaking on behalf of the Lord, and so she would be wise to heed what I say. The other day I placed my hands on her head and commanded her to learn how to be a better cook. I felt moved to do so by the spirit, as her tasteless dinners had been weighing on my mind for some time. She has no choice but to obey.

I have found great precedence for this in the scriptures. Joseph Smith gave Emma priesthood blessings all the time where he told her to love him and be faithful to him and to do this or that or stop complaining about this or that. I like to follow in his footsteps.

Stake Pres. said...
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Sweet CAM said...

There is no way this post is for real. What about all the weight that the noble priesthood holder needs to lose? What about the support the wife needs to raise this dude's children? This is totally unbelievable.

Anonymous said...

This is your funniest blog post ever, especially your comments. You can preside over my stake anytime!

Stake Pres. said...
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Amy said...

I can't WAIT to be subdued by my husband. I know my place is in the home. Why did God make women's feet so small?? So we could get closer to the kitchen sink!

You are so correct. I need to pray for humility, and ask my husband to pray that I will be a humble helpmeet to him. This is the Lord's way.

Harry Burns said...

please tell me this is a joke. i know too many Mormons who'd actually believe this.

Stake Pres. said...
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Anonymous said...

My husband tried that once on me, and only once. I told him right in the middle of the prayer, that if he wanted to talk to me he could do so on his own and not by talking to god about it while i am listening. So i reproved him sharply, like the scriptures say to do when he is wrong.

My mother used to do that to us and there was no way i'd live thru that for the rest of my life.

grow a backbone and learn to talk to your wife like a man!

-karin

Mark Griffin said...

Really is this a joke? I am a very active member of the church. You are to use prayers as a time to converse with the lord not to supposedly teach your wife. You are not talking to her but to the lord. You are to take his counsel not as an excuse to counsel someone else. It seems that you might need to humble yourself and gets some counseling yourself. I say this in a nice way.
Donna

Boyd Paternoster said...

I disagree Brother Griffin. Prayer is a very effective teaching tool. Consider our missionaries, and the long prayers and words uttered in General Conference prayers, teaching about the Atonement and the Prophet Joseph Smith. We are to use every tool in our arsenal to help the Gospel Brother Griffin, and that includes inviting the Spirit when we have a captive audience and no distractions by teaching true doctrine.

Other examples of such would be the Church having an SEO project (tech.lds.org) to backlink and inflate their rankings and hide anti-mormon websites. It is important to do all we can.

Anonymous said...

If this is real, I am leaving this church as fast as I can!
BTW - Lorena Bobbit would know how to expertly resolve this husband's issues.