Reflecting on our role as parents can help us understand more about the love of our Heavenly Father. This video, “Earthly Father, Heavenly Father” captures some reflections from a father about our belief in a Heavenly Father.

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~by Stephanie

I lay on the couch for hours after church, staring at the ceiling. The bishop had asked me to serve as the Relief Society President in our student ward, and I was in shock.

I didn’t anticipate having to coordinate planning funeral luncheons or dealing with welfare issues – typical responsibilities for a family ward Relief Society President – but I would need to fellowship them, and be sensitive to whether or not the Sunday and weekday meetings met their needs — the needs of 100 students close to my age, only half of whom came to church.

Those who showed up every Sunday were easy to get to know. We attended the University of Wyoming, where LDS students are definitely a minority. Adjacent to the campus is a lovely Institute building [read more about LDS Institute] where many Mormon kids gather between classes, in the evenings, on weekends. Previously, I had found it a good place to meet friends or flirt, but now my interactions took on a new urgency: I needed to be a friend – a genuine one – and I doubted myself.

I try to be friendly, and can even fool you into thinking I’m an outgoing person, but that’s only after battling through an almost painful shyness. Could I be the kind of leader I needed to be? Was I smart enough, charming enough, caring enough to do this?

Soon my worries were swept away in the most powerful ongoing spiritual experience of my young life. I didn’t have to find it in myself to love these young women. The love our Heavenly Father feels for His daughters overwhelmed me and spilled over into my interactions with them.

He knew them. He knew their struggles, their potential, their ambitions and joys. He wanted them to do well and be happy. Not just as a group, but individually. In Relief Society, we refer to each other as “sisters,” and I grasped that this is a true assessment of our relationship. We are part of a divine family.

You can’t spread honey without getting some on yourself, and as I reiterated the message that our Heavenly Father knows us, and loves us, I came to know that my Heavenly Father also loves me, and understands me.

Me – Stephanie – full if imperfections and insecurities, is a beloved daughter of God.

Throughout that year I took this message to the young women who already knew it. With the cute Elder’s quorum president from the other ward, I helped track down the students who stayed in Laramie during the summer, but didn’t make it to church.

Fall and spring, I rejoiced in their successes and was anxious about some of their choices, always feeling a spiritual echo in my soul, that these were not my concerns alone.

I served in that position for only one short year, but the perspective I gained still colors my life. Understanding my divine heritage allows me to sets my sights higher. I see the work I and other women do as so much more important than the world would have us believe.

And knowing myself to be a beloved daughter of Heavenly Father makes it easier for me to pass an awareness of this reality on to my own five daughters – the ones I’m raising with that cute elder’s quorum president from the other ward.

Stephanie writes this about herself: “I am a wife, mother of five daughters, avid reader, wannabe writer, occasional artist, and lifelong Mormon.  My life appears quiet and ordinary from the outside, and is an unexpectedly grand adventure on the inside.” She blogs at http://www.themountlaundrynews.com/

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“Probably Mrs. Parkin.”

“Why is she Sister Parkin at church and Mrs. Parkin at the school?”

“At church, we call everyone Brother or Sister so-and-so because it is a reminder of the relationships we have with one another. We believe that all people on the earth are children of our Heavenly Father and so by calling each other “Sister” or “Brother” we are reminded of our duty to love one another. But not everyone is a member of our church, and a lot of people do not believe the same things we do, so referring to Sister Parkin as Mrs. Parkin at school is appropriate.”

“OK.”

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This is a question my first grader asked me last year and I bet others have wondered the same. So, why do Mormons refer to each other as Sister and Brother? Here are some of my thoughts:

First, it can strengthen in our minds our doctrine of a loving Father in Heaven who is the literal spirit Parent of every person who has lived on the earth. Understanding that we are all children of a loving Heavenly Father increases my desire to have compassion toward my fellow beings. (Or siblings as the case may be.)

Second, it is not unlike calling a woman “Mrs. __________,” or “Miss ________,” or “Ma’am” and calling a man “Mr. __________” or “Sir.” Many Mormons teach their children in particular to refer to older members of their congregation as “Brother” and “Sister” as a way to show respect. (For me, it’s also particularly handy when I have brain lapses and have forgotten someone’s first name!)

Friends will typically refer to each other by their first names when speaking to each other in person, over the phone or at church.

Third, this way of addressing each other can solidify in our hearts the covenants we have made at baptism when we became members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Through covenants we become children of Jesus Christ and promise to always remember him. We promise to mourn with those that mourn, comfort those who stand in need of comfort, to keep His commandments and to stay clean and pure. Essentially we promise to be Christians. By becoming a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints we join the body of Christ as taught by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12

2 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
14 For the body is not one member, but many.
21 And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.
27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

A similar sentiment is shared by Paul in Ephesians 2:

19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

By referring to one another as “Brother” or “Sister” we remind ourselves of the importance each of us have in doing the Lord’s work. Not one member of the body of Christ is more important than another, and we must all be focused on the Lord to function properly. This can help foster humility. Who am I to feel superior to another when God loves all of His children the same?

I find the familial relationships within the Church extremely satisfying. I have served and been served by the members of my congregation without the expectation of pay, accolades, or excessive thanks. The workings of the Church mirror that of the family. Within the Church there are shared responsibilities (callings), family gatherings (ward parties), worship gatherings (sacrament meetings), family prayer (this happens every time we meet together), and huge family projects (service projects). We also try to be there for one another, pray for one another, help and serve one another. Together we grow and accept one another’s faults. There is room for tragedies and jealousies, disasters and pain, just like there is in any family. But together, we make a mighty fine whole. I have always appreciated the tradition of referring to fellow members of the Church as “Brother” or “Sister” — I love it when I am referred to as “Sister W.”

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To read more about how Mormons view their membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints please read the following:

Belonging: A View of Membership by Jeffery R. Holland

The post Ask a Mormon Woman: Why Do Mormons Refer To Each Other As “Brother” and “Sister”? appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

I’ve been thinking a lot this week about a quote by President Gordon B. Hinckley from 1998 that was reprinted in the October 2009 Visiting Teaching Message:

“Never forget that these little ones are the sons and daughters of God and that yous is a custodial relationship to them, that He was a parent before you were parents and that He has not relinquished His parental rights or interest in these, His little ones.”

Parenting is not easy, and I bet I’m not the only one who worries – not infrequently – if I doing a good enough job preparing my children for all facets of life.  There is so much to teach our children, so much involved in helping them grow and learn and mature.  This quote that reminded me that as much as I worry, our Heavenly Father has at least as much concern and love invested in my children as I do.

All the little things I worry about, I can take to God.  He worries about them perhaps more than I do, and not only that, he worries about ME, and how I react to parenting situations with my children.  If I’m trying to help my children build lasting and loving sibling relationships, I can take my concerns and questions to the Lord about how I should best go about that goal. Am I frustrated with anything relating to my family?  I can take it to the Lord.  Even something like being desperate to have a baby sleep through the night or a toddler finally toilet trained – if these are big deals to us as earthly parents, they are surely big deals to our Heavenly Father.  We don’t have to come up with the answers alone.

I feel like I pray more about my family and my children than any other matter, but reading over this quote again and again the past week makes me wonder if I’m taking everything to the Lord that I can be – and wondering about how our family could be improved if I did take more to the Lord.

I love reading and doing research, so when presented with a parenting challenge, I often turn to my girlfriends, books, and the internet for help.  But why don’t I spend more time about parenting matters on my knees, talking to He who is Father of me AND my children, who has more interest in, and love for, all of us than I can imagine?  Good chance I’ll still find solutions through research, past experience of girlfriends, or books – but I’m guessing I would spend a lot less time searching and likely find the ideal solution for each specific situation much more quickly.

When I was talking about this with a friend while visiting teaching, she brought up another great point that this quote brings up – when we are harsh with our children, we are being hard on HIS children.  Thinking about this makes me want to be incredibly more gentle towards the three wonderful children I’ve been given to love and raise, and wonder even more how God feels about the job I am doing parenting His children?  I’m thankful I know I can ask, and have a sure faith that He’ll tell me, love me, and help me improve.

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We have family prayer every evening together, and we take turns saying it. Becca needs our help, but Emma launches on boldly and pours out her little heart in sometimes touching, and sometimes hilarious ways. She asks her Heavenly Father to help her parents be “better,” to cure our owies, and to help us be happy. She expresses her hope that Heavenly Father and Jesus had a good day like we did. Sometimes, she tells on her sister if Becca has been particularly meddlesome that day, and my husband, Neil, and I struggle not to laugh.

We’ve been teaching her that she can talk to her Heavenly Father in prayer whenever she wants. Whenever she needs help or strength or comfort. We want her to know that Heavenly Father and Jesus care about her on a personal level.

Saturday night, after brushing teeth, prayers, hugs, kisses and tuckings-in, I said one last I love you to Emma and went to close her door. She rolled over onto her back and started talking towards the ceiling.

“Jesus? I miss you Jesus. Did you have a good day too? I had SUCH a good day. I love you Jesus. I want you to come to our world again so I can see you. I miss you so much.”

This. This is what it means to have faith in the Savior. My heart was full to bursting as I overheard her simple, heartfelt words. But it also ached in a painful way, because I feel like I’ve lost the simplicity of a child’s faith that my daughter so beautifully demonstrated that night. Suddenly, I understood why we are charged to be as a little child — because of that faith and love that the complications of adulthood too often obscure.

I love my Savior. I understand in some small part what He did for all mankind. I know that He suffered not only for the sins of the world, but for all our hurts and strife and struggles. I know that no matter what I suffer in this life, there is One who understands my pains and sorrows because He has felt them. But do I trust Him the way my daughter does? Do I yearn for His return with that sweet air of expectation she has?

I know it is such a common thing to say, that our children become our teachers. I thought to teach her about Jesus Christ and her loving Heavenly Father, but the tables have turned and now, she teaching me.

Tears are welling, and my heart is aching again. I’ve never been so glad to learn anything in all my life.

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For more First Person essays, please click here.

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Today my husband called me with some unsettling news while I was washing the dishes. Prior to that call, my mind had already been caught up in my hefty to-do list for the week. My heart began to be troubled. There were many people to worry about and lots of things to do. I was overwhelmed.

Luckily for me, my toddler was napping and the older kids were at school. So I dried my sudsy hands off and kneeled on the rug in front of my sink. With my hands clasped and head bowed I poured my feelings out to my Heavenly Father in prayer.

I rose, blinking away a tear or two, and resumed doing the dishes. After pouring the detergent and turning the knob on the dishwasher to “normal wash,” I felt a warmth wash over me. It felt like a glow had entered into my spirit and infused my heart with peace. I felt confident that I could accomplish my tasks and a resolution to the problem my husband called about would come in time.

When I was young, ages 3 – 12, I learned a song that taught me about my relationship with my Heavenly Father. It is called I am a Child of God, with words written by Naomi Ward Randall and music by Mildred Tanner Pettit:

I am a Child of God

And He has sent me here,

Has given me an earthly home

With parents kind and dear.

Lead me, guide me, walk beside me,

Help me find the way.

Teach me all that I must do

To live with Him some day.

This song frequently comes racing to my mind in times of trouble and fear. It reminds me that I have a loving Father in Heaven who listens to and answers prayers. Just as He answered mine today.

To compliment this experience, I also wanted to share this beautiful rendition of Soy un hijo de Dios (I am a Child of God) sung by Rebecca Lopez and accompanied by Mark Goldstein.

For more Our Thoughts posts, please click here.

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