"Why Do You Stay"?

Brenda is a beach lovin' grandma who loves tacos too much to be a vegetarian.

Some voters are one-issue voters.  If their candidate is pro-life and votes against abortion, these voters support them.  …regardless of whether or not they are a reasonable, decent human being or whether or not they accept funding (bribes) to make decisions on behalf of corporations or lobbyists or the NRA or the Koch brothers or are people who make millions from selling charter school property when the school moves…  or whether or not they vote to improve our city, our state, our country for those who live here, or work to take care of veterans, look out for our senior citizens, working families, and yes, even our immigrants.  They vote for people who are pro-life regardless of whether this candidate will work to strengthen our infrastructure (so potholes get filled and bridges don’t collapse) or to improve our public schools (where 95% of our students attend) or make health care available and affordable for all… I could go on.

If you are a one-issue voter, you are voting for so much more.

Recently, with regard to my faith,  I was asked, “Why do you stay?” This question was asked of me (a 32-year long member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) by a former member of the same church.  The answer?  I’m not a one-issue member.

I was baptized into the church when I was 27 years old.  I had been around the block.  I was familiar with the Lutheran church in my childhood but was never really taught what Lutherans believed.  My parents taught me the importance of serving others. This was as simple as picking up a neighbor’s newspaper that was lying in the driveway and placing it by their front door. As a child, we went camping and I learned to respect the outdoors; not to litter and even to pick up other peoples’ litter.  I was kind to animals and people even if no one noticed.  As a young adult, I always had a volunteer job in addition to a paying job. In every election since I was old enough to register, I voted.  Taking soup to a sick friend was second nature.  I traveled.  In some parts of the world, I recognized that life was much harder there than in my life.  I appreciated other cultures for the goodness they brought to the world.  I was humble enough to know that my culture wasn’t the only one or the best… it was just one of many.  Basically, my parents raised me to be a kind, decent, caring human being.

When missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints found me over three decades ago, I listened and prayed about what they taught me.  Some of what they said was new to me, yet most felt like I was “coming home.”  For the first time in my life, my prayers weren’t rote prayers.  They were a conversation with me talking to my Heavenly Father and with Him listening.  And answers came.  Not verbal answers to my prayers, but feelings, promptings that came to my mind and heart about how to solve a problem or how to help someone or just what to do next.  I began to acknowledge that God is in charge. I recognized these messages as being from the Holy Spirit.  When I was baptized, I was promised that the Holy Spirit would be my constant companion as long as lived my life in accordance with God’s teachings.  Mostly, though, I realized that I have an overwhelming desire to please God.  I know He knows me, He is aware of my needs, my desires, my life.  He loves me as He loves all of His children.

I’d be lying if I said I agree with everything spoken from the pulpit.  I am more liberal than many members of my faith.

I think that being LGBTQ is not a choice any more than I chose to be heterosexual.  I think people should be able to love who they love and be married in a civil ceremony to express that love.

I think our country should make it easier for immigrants to come to our country and definitely not separate families at the border when they enter the United States illegally.

I think women should be in charge of their own health care decisions, even regarding abortion.
Elizabeth Smart was raped every day for 9 months while being held captive by the monsters that kidnapped her.  If she had gotten pregnant, I would never have refused her the choice of ending that pregnancy.  If my daughter or granddaughter faced a situation where doctors had to choose between saving their life or the child’s life, PLEASE save my daughter or granddaughter!  I’m not naïve enough to think that women choose to end pregnancies for other reasons that might seem less critical.  We will ALL eventually face the consequences for all of our choices.  We came to earth under the plan of our Savior Jesus Christ – a plan that allows us to make our own choices.  While the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints discourages abortion, it acknowledges that it is an option in three cases: rape or incest, the life of the mother is at risk, or if the baby has been medically proven incapable of surviving outside the womb).  In order for these choices to occur, abortion has to remain legal.  If you don’t want to have an abortion, don’t have one.  Let everyone else have their choice too.

So, why do I stay?

I stay because when I prayed to know if Joseph Smith was a modern day prophet who restored the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth, the answer I got was YES.

I prayed about who to marry.  The first young man was a definite NO.  My husband was a definite YES.

When I traveled to Peru as a young adult, I received a priesthood blessing that proved to me that God knows who I am and what I can accomplish when I allow Him to work through me.

I stay because I know that through the power of God’s priesthood here on earth, I can be sealed to my family forever.  I want that.  I know this is true in every fiber of my being from time spent in the temple.  I am excited to see all my grandparents again.  Someday I will die and not be here on earth to spend time with my children and grandchildren.  I am comforted to know that I can be with them again throughout eternity.

I stay because the Prophet teaches us to be kind, decent human beings, to love one another.  Church members sometimes put an unusual twist on that but for the most part, I have met hundreds of caring people who try to do what’s right.

I stay because my savior Jesus Christ taught, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”  Loving God and loving one another is the umbrella over all the other commandments and modern-day revelation.

 THAT is why I choose to stay.