This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Relief Society Session of the October 2000 Conference.
Sister Sheri Dew's talks are so good. They speak to me just as powerfully now as they did twenty years ago, when my life and responsibilities were so different. I remember this talk clearly: Stand Tall and Stand Together. She talks about being a tall teenager who slouched to hide her height, and how her mother constantly told her to "stand up straight." Then she relates that to our need to be willing to stand up and stand out for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I've read several articles or talks by Anthony Sweat that have introduced me to the idea that the covenants we make in the temple initiate us into a "holy order." I love this idea and have been thinking a lot about it. I've read that phrase in books—"He took holy orders"—and have always found it appealing. I can imagine a man stepping into a new life as he puts on his new priestly robes, takes on an appropriately priestly demeanor, and instantly gains gravity and trustworthiness in the eyes of others. I can imagine this new priest perhaps feeling a little strange as people suddenly see him differently—perhaps everyone wants his advice now, or assumes he is somehow apart from the temptations regular people struggle with. He knows that he is still only a man, but for the sake of his Holy Orders, perhaps he acts a little more kind and measured than he did before, assumes a more careful tone when he speaks. Perhaps he decides that since people look to him as a leader, he ought to act a little more like a leader. And as he acts that part, he grows into it.
Or I think of Sam when he first started teaching at BYU. It seemed so strange to both of us that he was teaching these classes he'd so recently been a student in. "I suppose you ought to have some…professor clothes?" I said to him, a few weeks before he started the job. "Professors don't just wear shorts and t-shirts, do they?" It seemed they didn't, so he bought some different clothes—button-up shirts, nicer pants, nicer shoes. At first it felt a little funny seeing him dressed like that every day, almost like he was in a costume. But now those clothes just seem right and natural on him. He grew into the office he'd been given.
Sheri Dew's talk gave me the same feeling. It doesn't much matter if I feel inadequate to these "holy orders" I've taken on. As an endowed member of the Church of Jesus Christ, I carry His authority and have access to His power, and this is no time for shrinking or slouching back into obscurity. Sister Dew says,
As a teenager I did not realize that blending in with the crowd would never be my lot. Nor is it yours. For as women of God we must stand tall so that we will stand out from the rest of the world. Only in doing so may we hope to find joy. For finding joy and standing tall, not in feet or inches but as ambassadors for the Lord, are directly connected.…
The most effective way to share the gospel is to live it. When we live like disciples of Christ should live, when we aren’t just good but happy to be good, others will be drawn to us because we are “distinct and different—in happy ways,” as President Kimball prophesied. Happy about the way we’ve chosen to live, happy because we’re not constantly reshaping ourselves in the world’s image, happy because we have “the gift and the power of the Holy Ghost,” happy to stand tall so that we will stand out.
I don't particularly like standing out. And by the world's standards, I certainly don't. I'm a mother of far too many kids; I'm not young, not impressive, not up on the current trends, certainly not part of any prominent happenings or conversations. I feel silly seeing myself as some sort of leader or influencer when I'm just…me. But what else should someone who has taken Holy Orders be? As Sister Dew says,
For though some would portray us as dowdy and dominated rather than the dynamic, radiant women we are, no woman is more persuasive, no woman has greater influence for good, no woman is a more vibrant instrument in the hands of the Lord than a woman of God who is thrilled to be who she is.…My prayer tonight is that we can be…clear about our mission as women of God. This isn’t just a really nice church that teaches really nice ideas so that we can live really nice lives. This is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, endowed with His power and charged with carrying His truth to the ends of the earth.
That's what I want. To be a "vibrant instrument" in God's hands; to be a happy disciple of Jesus Christ who stands tall in His Holy Orders, and who is constantly growing into the woman He wants me to be!
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