Last week I saw a picture of a beautiful field of blue bonnets and Texas wild flowers and was reminded me of the power of one woman. the power of a singular act. the power of vision of what is possible when a woman takes action. Here is the picture....
The woman I speak of is Lady Bird Johnson and here is a picture (not so good one!) of her sitting amongst some of the wild flowers that she so loved.
Johnson was a lifelong advocate for beautifying the nation's cities and highways ("Where flowers bloom, so does hope") and the Highway Beautification Act was informally known as Lady Bird's Bill. She was a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold
Medal, the highest US civilian honors.
She was a successful businesswoman in the days when there weren't very many in the field of business. Her husband Lyndon Baines Johnson became President when President Kennedy was assassinated. I'm older now but I now look back on my life and see that I've been fascinated with people and their stories for what seems to be my entire life. I was intrigued by her. Mrs. Kennedy had refurbished the interior of our Nations house-- The White House. Mrs. Johnson wanted to take on the Nations exterior-- the land! She loved our country and wanted roadways and highways to be beautiful. She wanted them tidy. She wanted an abundance of native flowers that would flourish in their wildness on any barren roadside.
Eventually she wrote a big thick book (at least in memory it seems so) about The White House Years. That might have actually been the name of the book. So I read the book and wrote her a letter telling her how much I'd enjoyed the book and asking some questions. She wrote me a letter back (somewhere in all my paper stacks I still have it) spoke very kindly to me and answered my questions. I realized that she understood the power of persuasion & persistence. She accomplished her goal with that great desire and vision of what could be done and needed to be done.
I've really given a lot of thought to the power we have as females and our ability to pretty much accomplish anything we set our minds to. When Maya Angelou, the black poetess, author, lecturer and all sorts of accomplishments recently passed away, I watched the entire funeral on TV. It was interesting to see Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey speak. Speak about the power of women and what women can do when united. The great power synergistically speaking. Then there was a special celebration honoring black women of personal accomplishments, being referred to as ground breakers and making the way, through their individual accomplishments and yet banding together as a group, to allow others to build on what they had done. To stand on their shoulders by barriers broken down and doors now open.
There was also a special over the D-Day anniversary and a man was telling of the greatest tragedy, with
so many men wounded and dying and he said the word that was clearly heard from everywhere, the last words, their last thoughts...the person they cried out for was-- Mother. Mom. Ma.
I do not doubt we are powerful and impactful as females. that war scene, just the thought of that sound rendering the air made me teary.
A couple of days ago a glimpse of this Seattle newspaper made me cry also.
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| actually running!! |
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| a baby girl!! |
This made me teary also.... here
Yesterday I talked to my Laurels about women and the Priesthood. My concern for them is them, perhaps, not really knowing how they feel about the Priesthood being for males only...realizing it will not be extended to them... and being prepared to explain themselves. The above article subject is just the beginning of what is going to be so polarizing to the Church and to we females.
I saw this happen years and years ago and it got divisive but on a more limited way because there was not today's technology.
Change in the Church will never be brought about by grassroots effort...petitions...etc. etc. Change in the Church never comes from the ground upward. Change in the Church comes from Heaven downward. We believe in Prophets. They will keep us informed as to the happenings with their clear warnings and counsel.
Understanding our own feelings on this subject is one way we stand as a witness of God at all times and in all places and in all things.
Note to self: Be prepared to explain your feelings with gentleness and kindness.
(I still want people, those so dissatisfied with the Church that they want to change it, to go form their own Church and PLEASE leave the Church I support and believe in, just as it is.)
I just have to post this quote again!!!!!
Finally, my dear sisters, may I suggest to you something that has not been said before or at least in quite this way. Much of the major growth that is coming to the Church in the last days will come because many of the good women of the world (in whom there is often such an inner sense of spirituality) will be drawn to the Church in large numbers.
This will happen to the degree that the women of the Church reflect righteousness and articulateness in their lives and to the degree that the women of the Church are seen as distinct and different—in happy ways—from the women of the world.
Among the real heroines in the world who will come into the Church are women who are more concerned with being righteous than with being selfish. These real heroines have true humility, which places a higher value on integrity than on visibility. Remember, it is as wrong to do things just to be seen of women as it is to do things to be seen of men.
Great women and men are always more anxious to serve than to have dominion.
by President Spencer W. Kimball (1979)
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