Voice of the closet conservative

As liberals go, I am not so liberal. I have always thought of myself a closet conservative while trying to champion the left side on social/humanitarian issues. Looking at the past, the present was -- in many ways -- shaped by liberals.

So, when we in the church speak of families being forever; that a marriage is between a man and a woman; that the holy spirit of promise seals a couple if they are worthy -- I think I get the gist.

As a long-term Mormon I have it down -- the words, the feelings and the general understanding behind them.

And here I sit in the car after church bristling. Maybe that is one of the reasons we have Sunday School -- to provoke members into change.  If that is the case then today's lesson was... AWESOME!

Nothing to do with the essay. 

To answer a question poised in Sunday school, No.  No, I don’t want God to change his plan to suit me or my gay friends who don't fit in. I am not expecting natural laws to be altered, or doctrine to be re-configured.

However I do want points of view to widen into an acceptance of others on its most basic scale regardless of their situation, background or prospects.

The woman leading the lesson was single – I know this because she stated such. She broke down into tears as she mentioned that she did not have children to be sealed to (eternal families being the point of the lesson.)

There seemed to be a general sentiment expressed by the class at her revelation -- the old and the young alike:

Oh, how sad – you should find something to get you by this life until the next one starts." It isn't a shockingly bad sentiment. OK, it is shockingly bad. I have called it the "get a hobby" approach; Your life is hopeless, so find something constructive to do.

Life is not over. Specifically put for the woman teaching the lesson: You don’t have a family – yet. God’s time is not our time. This is the way of the hopeful, the faithful, the proactive – not necessarily a Mormon word, but one of my favorite.

A case in pro-activity to make a point: A friend of mine spoke in a fireside about an experience. He took his truck and his son out in the woods to collect, you know…wood. Fire wood. He backed in to his favorite spot and got his truck hopelessly stuck in the mud. They tried most of the day to get it out to no avail. They decided that they could either sit and wait for rescue, or get busy loading the truck with wood. The choose to be proactive. They choose to do something.

In the end after the truck was loaded and it was becoming very cold, they decided to give it one more go. The truck bounded out of the ruts and practically muscled its way to dry road with a cord or two of freshly chopped wood. The weight of the wood had given it all the truck needed. Doing something when it seemed they didn't have a choice gave them the traction.

So, back to bristling: Maybe I am not upset at the material of the lesson on eternal marriage, but the general hopelessness of those who don't fit the mold.

Christ came to redeem us all. We came down to earth to be like our Father, and the time will come when we will be able to make a run at our goals full force. That time will be -- again -- in Gods time.

I don't know what that looks like for you. I don't know what it looks like for me. But I feel good about putting my faith in my Heavenly Father and loading up my truck.