Do you truly believe you are Guardians of the Hearth? Do you take that role seriously, and seek to establish, nurture, and defend the family from this position?

The world would have you scoff at that notion. It would convince you that “men and women have been socialized to perform certain gender specific roles”. It would say you’re old fashioned, and chained somehow, to “a woman’s place”. The world would insist that by holding to these imprisoning values, you hold women back to the dark ages where women can never be independent, equal, or free.

For me, a mother’s role is like the scriptures:

1. The world offers many miss-translations, but the truth can be found within the pages of our doctrine.
2. In order to gain a deeper understanding, one must study with the help of the Spirit.
3. Interpretations, and individual understanding, come from our personal experience, as directed by the Spirit.
4. The Lord has spelled everything out pretty nicely. Yet, we have to have faith in Him to carry our lack of understanding.
5. We, women, have a lot of knowledge, power, and backing from our prophets. If we cross reference one another “[we] will be united and speak with one voice, [our] strength will be incalculable. We call upon the women of the Church to stand together for righteousness. They must begin in their own homes. They can teach it in their classes. They can voice it in their communities.” (Pres. Hinckley, WW Training)

As I’ve studied the Relief Society, I have come to know a great deal about how God sees His daughters. There is no question in me that He loves me, that He sustains me, and that He wants me back in His household. My faith and testimony is in the assignment He has given me. Each one of us can gain that same testimony if we study the words of our prophets. They have told us from the very beginning that women have place and value in the Kingdom of God.

It is the world that teaches us otherwise.

I read a paper, written by a sociologist, Jeannie A. Fry, who explores the reasons for juvenile delinquency. She lists three identifying characteristics of a disturbed child. She says, “Research has shown that increase in divorce, female-headed households, and working mothers can increase the likelihood of juvenile delinquency.” Her research further revealed that female-headed households, or working mothers, were still just symptoms. The real cause was divorce.

How many stories have we heard of strong black women, raising their children in “the Projects”, and on their own, and these children grow up to be Lights in the world? How many working mothers still manage to be there for their children, because with love they are doing all they can to bring up their children to be responsible, strong, and educated?

Divorce is caused by sin and dissatisfaction. Both parties are often equally at fault. The husband isn’t responsible enough to continue along the path he once started, or the wife wants something else. As children witness this situation in their homes, they grow up angry, resentful, untrusting, and often violent.

Ms. Fry states, “Family is the most important institution when instilling self-control in children.” She also quotes two professors from Stanford, “The major cause of low self-control is ineffective childrearing. Discipline, supervision, and affection tend to be missing in the home”.

In The Family: A Proclamation to the World, the roles of man and woman, husband and wife, and father and mother are identified as divine and God-given. “Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny.”

–”Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.”

–”God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife.”

–“Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, and to teach them to love and serve one another, observe the commandments of God, and be law-abiding citizens wherever they live.”

To women, Pres. Hinckley said, “I cannot say enough of appreciation for your determination to live by the standards of the Church, to walk with the strength of virtue, to keep your minds above the slough of filth which seems to be moving like a flood across the world. Thank you for knowing there is a better way. Thank you for the will to say no. Thank you for the strength to deny temptation and look beyond and above to the shining light of your eternal potential.”

A letter Pres. Hinckley once received said, “I remember reading President Kimball’s monthly message in the Ensign wherein he promised that if we would read the scriptures daily that every problem we faced during the day would be answered within those holy pages. I thought, ‘Okay, President Kimball, you’re on. I have lots of problems and they sure do need answers.’ I gathered my children around me and we studied daily, we prayed…we held family home evening and attended our meetings. ‘President Hinckley,’ she continues, ‘this is a miracle if ever there was a miracle. The Lord protected and nurtured those children. He answered their prayers. …’

“May the Lord bless you, my beloved sisters. You are the guardians of the hearth. You are the bearers of the children. You are they who nurture them and establish within them the habits of their lives. No other work reaches so close to divinity as does the nurturing of the sons and daughters of God.” (Oct. 1995)

President Hinckley taught in a World Wide Training Meeting, “It is so tremendously important that the women of the Church stand strong and immovable for that which is correct and proper under the plan of the Lord. I am convinced there is no other organization anywhere to match the Relief Society of this Church…They must be the teachers and the guardians of their daughters. Those daughters must be taught in the Primary and in the classes of the Young Women of the values of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When you save a girl, you save generations. She will grow in strength and righteousness. She will marry in the house of the Lord. She will teach her children the ways of truth. They will walk in her paths and will similarly teach their children. Wonderful grandmothers will be there to lend encouragement.”

It is enough for me to know that my Heavenly Father needs me to be the Guardian of the Hearth. It is vital work in the Kingdom of God. As Sis. Barbara B. Smith was quoted by the media as saying, “Hold your heads high, you wives, mothers, homemakers. You engender life and enrich it. Don’t trade that pervasive force for fleeting, surface trinkets. Cherish it, enlarge it, magnify it. You hold a mighty office.”

Quotes from:

1. “Change in Family Structure and Rates of Violent Juvenile Delinquency”, Jeannie A. Fry, 2010, Virginia Polytechnic Institute.
2. “A General Theory of Crime”, Michael R. Gottfredson and Travis Hirschi, 1990, Stanford University.
3. “Stand Strong Against the Wiles of the World”, Gordon B. Hinckley, Oct. 1995.
4. “Standing Strong and Immovable”, Gordon B. Hinckley, Worldwide Training Meeting, Jan 10, 2004.
5. Sis. Smith quoted by George W. Cornell. Found in Women of Covenant, pg. 361 and Daughters in my Kingdom, pg. 159.
6. See Daughters in my Kingdom, Chapter 9, “Guardians of the Hearth”.