where there is great responsibility

Last week was the most beautiful weekend of fall. Not because of the changing leaves or the cool breezy weather or the smell of fall (though all of that was wonderful too), but because it was general conference for my church. I write about it every 6 months because it is always so inspiring to me, but if you are not familiar with general conference, it is 2 days (4 sessions + 1 for men only) of talks by leaders of our church giving us guidance, hope and tools to strengthen us in our resolve to live our religion more fully. The talks, as they always are, were inspiring and uplifting and beautiful.

Over the past week, 2 things have weighed hevily on my mind. First, because of teachings shared in one talk from general conference, my religion has been attacked publicly, very personally, and even by those of my own faith. I have tossed and turned at night, read countless articles and information and stewed about the attacks. While I do not want to get into the details of the debate here on my blog and feed any more controversy, I feel a deep responsibility to proclaim my feelings. I am proud to be an American! I am grateful for freedom of speach and freedom of religion. To those who feel differently from me, I am so grateful that I live in a country where that is respected/tolerated/appreciated! Sadly, I feel that this very controversy is threatening MY right as an American to listen to a conference for my own religion and be taught principles that are key to that religion. I have a right to learn my own faith, I have a right to teach my own faith to my children, and I have a right to live my religion (which happens to teach love and tolerance and respect for people who do not agree with it). I live this religion to the best of my abilities: I am not perfect, but I teach my children what is right. I teach them to have faith in God. I teach them that the scriptures hold eternal truths and that they should read and study them. I teach them that every person on this earth is a child of God and that he loves them. I teach them to respect differences and to love people - whether or not they believe as we do. I wish that people could respect my right to do so without applying a degrading label (which is completely unfounded, should you care to actually study our beliefs) to me or my church leaders. Disagreement and respect can and should cooexist and I will defend that! I will defend my right to learn and practice religion as I so choose. I will defend the right of every human being to be treated with love and respect - and not just those of the minority, but those of the "majority" as well. That is all I have to say about this, for now. I, of course, have strong opinions regarding the issue on debate, so if you want to hear them, feel free to send me an email, and I will be happy to share! ;)

Second, I feel an overwhelming responsibility to teach my children what is right! This world we live in has so much good, and I am quick to look for the good and ignore the bad, but I feel such a need to teach my children how to seek out the good and stay far from the bad! Their minds are little sponges that soak up everything around them...and while that has been wonderful as they have spent their days in the safety of my home, it scares me to death as they venture out into the world of school and making friends and making choices. I worry for them, I pray for them and I hope that what I have taught them stays with them. I want to swoop in and protect them from influences that can change the course of their whole lives, I want to swoop in and guide them to be kind to everyone. I want to swoop in and remind them to show respect and appreciation to their teachers. But I know that they must make these decisions on their own. It is a great responsibility to teach children to avoid evil in our society (particularly when society readily accepts so much of what I think is evil), but I will do it, because I know that where there is great responsibility, there are great rewards!