Tuesday, February 17, 2009

You Need Help

Joy and I were reading Elder Richard G. Scott's October General Conference address, which was given to the priesthood brethren. In it, he asks a number of penetrating personal worthiness questions, including:

"If you are divorced, do you provide for the real financial need of the children you have fathered, not just the minimum legal requirement? If you are married, are you faithful to your wife mentally as well as physically? Do you assist your wife by doing some of the household chores? Do you lead out in family activities ... or does your wife fill in the gap your lack of attention leaves in the home?"

We talked about how we're doing and how we can improve. Following the questions, it was Joy's turn to read. She read:

"If any of you feel uncomfortable with any of the answers you have mentally given to the questions I have asked, take corrective action now. If there are worthiness issues, with all of the tenderness of my heart I encourage you to speak to your bishop or a member of your stake presidency now."

I commented that it is very unusual to for us to be encouraged with tenderness. I'm rather more accustomed to being encouraged with all the forcefulness, with all the energy, with all the persuasiveness, or with all the strength they can use. I joked that we men don't know what to do when another guy encourages us with tenderness.

It was then that Joy continued reading with the best dramatic voice I have ever heard her use:

"You need help."

We ROFLed for a while about the truth of that statement.

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