womanhood

This post is a transcript of an episode of my podcast, “Women Who Know.” This episode originally aired on August 31, 2022.

Welcome welcome! This is my first real episode of this podcast. I hope you were able to hear my introduction episode where I introduced myself and gave you some background on why I wanted to start this podcast. If not, give it a listen! It’s only a few minutes long, and it will give you a better understanding of what this podcast is about. You don’t need to listen to it to understand anything in this episode though, so no worries there!

For my first official episode, I want to talk about my “target audience” if you will. WOMEN. Women are amazing. Women have so much to offer, and I love being a woman. But, what does it mean to be a woman? To start, I want to talk about Heavenly Mother. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I firmly believe that we have a Heavenly Mother who loves us infinitely, just as our Heavenly Father does. Women are created in Her image. President Joseph Fielding Smith said, “In Genesis we read: … ‘So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.’ [Genesis 1:27] Is it not feasible to believe that female spirits were created in the image of a Mother in Heaven?” (Source) We are divinely designed after the image of our Heavenly Mother.

President Gordon B. Hinckley once said that, “[God]… created man in His own likeness and image. Then as His final creation, the crowning of His glorious work, He created woman. I like to regard Eve as His masterpiece after all that had gone before, the final work before He rested from His labors” (President Hinckley, “Daughters of God” October 1991 GC). 13 years after President Hinckley said this, he spoke again saying, “Eve became God’s final creation, the grand summation of all of the marvelous work that had gone before.” Other prophets and apostles have expressed similar sentiments, and I love it. The crowning masterpiece and grand summation of God’s creation of the Earth and all life thereon was a woman, Mother Eve, created after the image of Heavenly Mother.

If we are created in the image of Heavenly Mother, what is She like? I think it is safe to assume that the divine qualities that Heavenly Father possesses are also divine qualities of Heavenly Mother. Goodness, kindness, compassion, love, meekness, patience. These are some of the many characteristics that our Heavenly Parents share.

femininity

I have some quotes I would like to share with you, and I will link all the sources. These quotes do not say they explicitly define Heavenly Mother, but they are quotes about women and femininity, and I think they describe our Mother in Heaven very well. She is the epitome of womanhood and femininity, and she is where women get their femininity after all. So I think we’re safe to assume that these are all qualities that our Heavenly Mother possesses. James E. Faust once said that our femininity is a unique, precious, and divine gift. It is “natural grace, goodness, and divinity.” He continues to say, “Femininity is not… lipstick, stylish hairdos, and trendy clothes. It is the divine adornment of humanity. It finds expression in your qualities of your capacity to love, your spirituality, delicacy, radiance, sensitivity, creativity, charm, graciousness, gentleness, dignity, and quiet strength. It is manifest differently in each girl or woman, but each of you possesses it. Femininity is part of your inner beauty” (James E. Faust, “Womanhood: The Highest Place of Honor,” April 2000 General Conference).

I love those descriptions of womanhood, and I truly believe they describe our Heavenly Mother so well. She is radiant, creative, gentle, and strong. I also love that he makes sure to add that femininity is manifest differently in each girl or woman. There is no mold we have to fit as women – but as women, we do share the gift of femininity and express it in individual ways.

James E. Faust also describes femininity as, “…part of the God-given divinity within each of you. It is your incomparable power and influence to do good. You can, through your supernal gifts, bless the lives of children, women, and men. Be proud of your womanhood. Enhance it. Use it to serve others” (Faust, 2000). An incomparable power and influence to do good! What a responsibility and honor that God has blessed women with that we are to be proud of and enhance and serve others with. I know that Heavenly Mother is constantly encouraging us to do just that because that is how She uses Her power.

women and men: different but equal

I want to go on a bit of a tangent here and say that honoring and loving women does not require us to honor and love men less. Women have been considered lesser than for the majority of the history of the world, but not by God. Women do not need to become like men in order to have value. Women have inherent and untouchable value because they are daughters of Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother, just as men have inherent and untouchable value as sons of Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother. Neal A. Maxwell said, “In the work of the Kingdom, men and women are not without each other, but do not envy each other, lest by reversals and renunciations of role we make a wasteland of both womanhood and manhood” (Neal A. Maxwell, “The Women of God,” April 1978 General Conference). Women and men need to show respect and love to one another, rather than bitterness and envy. I love the powerful description that he gives when he says that we make a wasteland of both womanhood and manhood when we try to become each other and when we envy each other, and I think that includes when we put down each other or assign stereotypes to each other. We are brothers and sisters and sons and daughters of God. One sex is not better than the other and we need to stop acting like it or fighting over who’s the best! We can’t fix the past by repeating it and ruining our present and our future. We can’t make up for what happened in the past by doing the same thing to men that has been done to women, right? So we have to move forward together, in a new and better way. I am fully aware that there are still a lot of men that do not treat women with that respect and love. In that regard, President Hinckley once said, “Every woman is a daughter of God. You cannot offend her without offending Him. I plead with the men of this Church to look for and nurture the divinity that lies within their companions. To the degree that happens, there will be harmony, peace, enrichment of family life, and nurturing love” (Gordon B. Hinckley, “The Women in our Lives,” October 2004 General Conference). So, there is no room for women and men to mistreat and disrespect each other anymore. We are all children of God, and we all deserve respect and love – the respect and love that our Heavenly Parents expect from us. Let’s not repeat history and let’s have harmony and peace and compassion. Okay, I’ll get off that soap box now!

satan’s attacks

Another thing I want to talk about today is the constant attacks we are seeing on womanhood. So many attacks, you guys. So many crazy things going on in this world. But you know what? That is to be expected. President Spencer W. Kimball once said, “Much of the major growth that is coming to the Church in the last days will come because many of the good women of the world…will be drawn to the Church in large numbers” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Spencer W. Kimball, 2006, 222-223). Of course there is going to be pushback. Of course satan is going to launch a major attack on women if we are to be the reason the church has major growth. Elder Richard G. Scott said,

“Satan has unleashed a seductive campaign to undermine the sanctity of womanhood, to deceive the daughters of God and divert them from their divine destiny. He well knows women are the compassionate, self-sacrificing, loving power that binds together the human family. He would focus their interests solely on their physical attributes and rob them of their exalting roles as wives and mothers. He has convinced many of the lie that they are third-class citizens in the kingdom of God. That falsehood has led some to trade their divinely given femininity for male coarseness.”

Richard G. Scott, “The Sanctity of Womanhood,” April 2000 General Conference

And he said that 12 years ago!! And 12 years ago, things weren’t nearly as bad as they are today. The world has gotten much crazier in a very short amount of time. Friends, we do not need to sacrifice our femininity or our roles as wives and mothers in order to be happy and successful in life. Satan is loving the devaluation of being a wife and a mother, but it is an absolute gift and amazing responsibility from God. So many people make it seem like becoming a wife and mother is the end of everything and your life will never be good or fun or fulfilling anymore. But they truly are EXALTING roles, and roles that only women can fulfill, whether in this life or the next. Neal A. Maxwell said, “God trusts women so much that He lets them bear and care for His spirit children” (Maxwell, 1978). Women were chosen to be the vessel for His spirit children to be able to come to earth and have experiences that were necessary in order to gain eternal life and exaltation. I hope that that brings you comfort and that you feel the love and trust that Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother have put in you as a woman. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said about motherhood, “The very fact that you have been given such a responsibility is everlasting evidence of the trust your Father in Heaven has in you,” (“Because She is a Mother,” April 1997 General Conference). Elder Holland says,

“Yours is the grand tradition of Eve, the mother of all the human family, the one who understood that she and Adam had to fall in order that ‘men [and women] might be’ and that there would be joy. …Yours is the grand tradition of Mary, chosen and foreordained from before this world was, to conceive, carry, and bear the Son of God Himself. We thank all of you, including our own mothers, and tell you there is nothing more important in this world than participating so directly in the work and glory of God, in bringing to pass the mortality and earthly life of His daughters and sons, so that immortality and eternal life can come in those celestial realms on high.”

(Holland, 1997)

Sisters, this work would not be complete without you. You are an essential key to Heavenly Father’s plan, and we would not be able to have immortality and eternal life without the mothers of the world bringing to pass the mortality and earthly life of God’s sons and daughters. I hope these quotes and what I have shared help you realize the importance of being a mother, and we should reject anything that tells us that being a mother is a somehow lesser than or subpar to other roles we can have in this world. We should reject the attacks on motherhood and remember that it is a sacred and exalting role that only we as women can do.

Okay, all that being said, what I am NOT saying that being a wife and mother are a woman’s ONLY roles. Some women are not able to do those things here in mortality, and I love and admire them so much. They are still 1000% infinitely valued and needed, and their strength is incomprehensible. Sister Sheri Dew once said, “Motherhood is more than bearing children, though it is certainly that. It is the essence of who we are as women. It defines our very identity, our divine stature and nature, and the unique traits our Father gave us.” I think this quote is even more powerful when we remember that women are designed after our Heavenly Mother, and we have those motherly qualities from Her. Those qualities are not dependent on whether or not you bear children in this life. Women have many roles and are capable of so many things. I think it’s about priorities; if you are able to be a wife and a mother on this earth, then those callings are your top priorities. Just as a man’s top priority is not his career, it is being a husband and father. All that to say, women are not just on earth to be wives and mothers – there is so much more for women to do. But those are our most important roles. I could do a whole podcast episode about this because it is something I have been pondering and learning about for years, and questioning myself and trying to figure out how to do I figure out how to deal with the feelings of wanting to do things outside of motherhood, but still feeling like a good mother. Anyways, I’m going to leave it at that for today but maybe I will put together an episode more about that.

I want to end with one last quote that you’ve most likely heard, but every time I hear it, it gets more and more powerful and meaningful to me. Margaret D. Nadauld said,

“Women of God can never be like women of the world. The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity.”

  (Margaret D. Nadauld, “The Joy of Womanhood,” October 2000 General Conference)

Sisters, I promise you that as daughters of God, you have immeasurable worth and value. You are loved and cared for by Heavenly Parents who are always watching over you. We do not need to be like men to have this value, and we do not need to tear down men to feel more valuable about ourselves. We do not need to fit any sort of mold to have a place and a purpose in this world and in the work of the Lord. For the majority of my life, I have felt so different from the girls and women around me. But what I have been learning recently is that I didn’t need to pretend to be like anyone else. I didn’t need to be like other girls and now, I am learning that I don’t need to pretend to be like other women. And when I am authentically myself, I find more connection with women so much easier. Every woman on this earth is needed and loved, just as she is. And to repeat it again because it is so important to me: YOU DO NOT NEED TO FIT A MOLD. There is no mold, sisters. Just all of us, as individuals, striving to be like Christ. We must be different from what the world expects women to be, but also from each other because we can’t help the world if we are just a big army of robot women who all look and sound alike and do all the same things. We must stand out and be a peculiar people and embrace that about ourselves because that is exactly the light and influence that will bring about the gathering of Israel that President Kimball said we would have such an important role in. And that President Nelson reiterated just a few years ago.

I hope that today as you have listened to this podcast that you have felt how much you are loved and valued as a woman and daughter of God. If you are struggling to feel that love, I would encourage you to ask God to help you feel it, ask Him how He feels about you, and He will absolutely answer you if you invite Him in. As women, we are creative, we are radiant, we are strong, we are gentle, and we have so much to offer the world. I hope you can feel that and that you know how important you are to Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother and Their plan. Please remember how much They love you and remember how amazing you are. Have a fantastic week and I’ll talk to you next time!