I was wasting time on facebook today and wandered over to LAF/Beautiful Womanhood's page. I noticed a question someone had posted regarding what it means to submit to one's husband. There were some good answers there. The first idea that popped into my head was not being snotty with one's husband -- just as a child should not be snotty with his/her parents -- goes along with being meek, humble, kind, etc. Now, a husband should not be snotty with his wife, either. If that's happening, or if it's going both ways, sounds like there are problems that ought to be resolved.
Tonight while I was cleaning, I listened to a Conversation with Elaine & Stephen Dalton on my iPod. Now there's a good 45 minutes (on fast play) of cleaning time! If I did that every night, my house would look great.
What really struck me was the balance these two have in their marriage of submissiveness and presiding (presiding particularly being a hot topic on Mormon feminist blogs). The Daltons demonstrated how these two words can be a beautiful thing if done well.
The main example that struck me was that Elaine Dalton submitted to the stresses of mothering 5 boys and a girl when her husband was involved for years in church service. She looked at his service as their service. He led in a church sense, while her part was to "hold down the fort." Now that she's serving in a very visible position, he, too, looks at this as their service. Just as she supported him, he now supports her. You can look at it this way, too: it really wasn't her submitting to her husband in his service, it was her submitting to God's will for them to serve in their capacities at the time.
The Dalton's also mentioned three things they specifically tried to teach their kids:
1. Identity - son or daughter of God
2. Listen to the Holy Ghost
3. Don't be afraid to be different
Of course they also talked about the courage to be virtuous, too.
Well worth listening to.
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