I have been thinking about this current topic for quite a bit. AND as always I will give a Papa Baer update at the end. Or perhaps I should do that at the beginning...decisions,decisions.
Okay, I give in. I will do the update first. Papa has been doing...well...alright. Unfortunately he has been having some really gnarly headaches as of late. These suckers come creeping during the night and wake him up. Despite medication, the headaches last for HOURS and it takes a toll on his body. Luckily, Papa has an appointment to try and figure this out so he can get some peaceful rest. Other than that, he's doing great! He is so super happy that Kels is getting married in a month, he looks forward to Pay's smile every morning, and he loves seeing his other grandkids as well.
This summer Kels &Richard will be headed to Texas for Law School and Rich's work. Cam & I will be headed to North Carolina for med school and this fall Bridger starts kindergarten! Woo! We have some pretty cool stuff going on.
Anywho, the subject of my post is "promises and modesty". For those of you who aren't all too familiar with the LDS faith, we are married in temples, and we make special promises, or covenants with God and our spouse. Part of these promises is being worthy to wear sacred undergarments. These garments represent a promise from us to obey the commandments and always put God first. The promise from God to us as we keep the commandments and wear the garments faithfully is that He will protect us and sustain us. Pretty amazing promise if you ask me.
As we are raised in the Church, we are taught that someday we will be able to enter God's holy temple and make these special promises with Him and our spouse. All children in the Church are taught about the temple and know that it is a very special place. As we grow older, our understanding deepens.
So what does modesty have to do with promises and entering God's house? Well. Let me tell you. Garments are modest. They cover the shoulder, are not low cut, and go down nearly all the way to the knee. Now, I get that those who are not of our faith may not understand why we would restrict our wardrobe to knee-length skirts/shorts, no less than capsleeve shirts and an almost ever-present under shirt. I guess the only way you could get why we would do that is to understand the conviction of our faith.
Believing that we really belong to God's true Church on this earth means that we follow the teachings and commandments outlined in the scriptures. If we truly believe that the temple is God's house on the earth, we know that the promises that we make within His house are sacred and of the utmost importance. If we believe those things and are taught in our youth about them, we should also be preparing to make those promises in the future.
So how do we prepare? One word. Modesty. Unfortunately, there are a billion and a half WORLDLY reasons to not be modest before we enter the temple. Girls, AND GUYS, who are immodest in their youth ARE NOT preparing to go to the temple. They are not preparing to make promises with their Father in Heaven or their future spouse. Garments are a part of those covenants and if we aren't living in a way that would permit us to wear garments we don't understand the holiness attached to them.
As a mother and a woman with a firm faith in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I KNOW of the power behind worthily making and keeping my promises. I want that same power to be present in my daughter's life and I will do all that I can to help her prepare to receive it. I will teach her about the principles and power behind modesty and the promises associated with it, EVEN in her youth. She will be protected as she faithfully lives as if she has already been to the temple.
So yeah, those are my thoughts. Promises and modesty. :)
Thanks for reading,
Aubs
