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Our Father in Heaven does not want obedient slaves, anxious dependents,unthinking servants, loyal but incompetent children. He wants to give us all that he has. He wants to make us co-heirs with Christ. He wants us to become creators and peoplers of our own worlds, just as he is. In a word, he does not want inferiors. He wants partners. It behooves us, then, as disciples of Christ, to remove the obstacles in our own thinking and in our own traditions that may make it possible for us to look at any other brother or sister in the gospel and to think unkindly or demeaningly or uncharitably of them. Rather, let us say with Nephi and Jacob, ‘The one being is as precious in his sight as the other’. Jacob 2:21
-Chieko Okazaki, Disciples, p.53
Quote:In a word, he does not want inferiors. He wants partners. It behooves us, then, as disciples of Christ, to remove the obstacles in our own thinking and in our own traditions that may make it possible for us to look at any other brother or sister in the gospel and to think unkindly or demeaningly or uncharitably of them.
– Love this.
At times I am unsure if God is who I think he is (the detailed form), but the God of my heart whose unseen hand I do feel, is someone I want to be part of and like. I don’t want to be
Quote:obedient slaves, anxious dependents,unthinking servants, loyal but incompetent children
. I believe for me that is the hugest part of my personal faith crisis in the religion of my upbringing. Ironically, the first quote is still my goal.
mom3, thank you for starting this thread. I realize I have loaned out my copy of Sanctuary and there is a quote I wanted to review in there. Have to track down who has my book! Quote:Love is not just a nice feeling about someone. It is the pure and joyful pulse of the universe, and being in tune with it means you are in tune with the forces that bind together the stars on one hand and the atoms on the other. If we truly love each other, most differences become irrelevant and most forms of helping are pure delight.
Love literally has the power to cause change.
Chieko Okazaki – Lighten Up pg. 14
Today’s is a long one but very applicable to us. Quote:Ed and I are both converts. We had to decide on our own what kind of Mormons we were going to be and what kind of Latter-Day Saint home we would establish. We listened to a lot of counsel. We observed a lot of families. But we still had to make our own decisions.
What’s the principle? Teach your children the gospel. And what’s the practice? That depends on your needs and wants and your family’s needs and wants….
These are practices, options based upon needs. You get to choose what works for you and your family. So lighten up! Lighten up about yourself – and about other people.
Brother Dyer and Brother Kunz had a comment about guilt I want to share with you: “Many couples still feel some what apologetic or guilty because, althought they are carrying out a Church program (raising their family), they are not doing it the ‘Church Way’ and feel that their families would work even better if somehow they could do it ‘by the book’. They geniunely want to do everything the church teaches them to do, and they want to do it perfectly. Yet in (the families in the study) they do not feel paralyzed by the desire for perfection. The statistics and interviews paint a remarkable picture of being simultaneously contented with family strengths while never feeling they can say, “We’ve got it made.’
Chieko Okazaki – Lighten Up. pg. 25
A vital message for Men and WomenQuote:“Many Mormon women do not have clear boundaries for themselves. They feel a sense of confusion about who they are, because many competing voices lay claim to them and they try to accommodate them all. For example, when I became a member of the Relief Society general presidency, I was appalled at how many women were tormented by guilt about their responsibilities as mothers. They seemed unable to see a boundary between themselves and their children. If a child deviated from what was expected, it became a burden that the mother bore. . . .
It is a strength for women to be able to cross their own boundaries easily when they are meeting the needs of their children and serving others, but it is a great disadvantage when they feel every call for service as an imperative which they are obligated to meet. Remember, a boundary has “yes” on one side and “no” on the other. A woman who never feels that she can say “no” is lacking an important element of personal identity and, hence, personal safety.”
-Chieko Okazaki, Boundaries, p. 5-6
Quote:“[T]he Church has nothing to fear from the strength of women. On the contrary, it desperately needs women–and men, too–who are not trapped in dysfunctional roles that involve playing out scripts that don’t really work. Partnership is a mutually supportive relationship that recognizes and honors both the differences and similarities between men and women, that draws deeply on the strengths of both, that focuses on working toward mutually decided goals, and that celebrates the contributions of both in the home, in the community, and in the church and kingdom of God. Help both men and women to work for partnership and to move away from the limitations of rigid roles.”
-Chieko Okazaki, Boundaries, p. 16
Quote:“Christ was born, he lived, and he died to teach us how to love one another and to love our Heavenly Father. The gospel that he taught was one of love. The cause of Christ is to increase the amount of love in the world today–the amount of love in our hearts, the amount of love in our homes, the amount of love in our offices and businesses, the amount of love in our communities, the amount of love in our chapels, the amount of love in our nation, and the amount of love on our planet.”
-Chieko Okazaki, Cat’s Cradle, p. 162-163
I have already copied a few of sister Okazaki’s quotes from this site. It is someone you really want to say, “Dang, I wish I had her as a friend!” I know I am stating the obvious, but isn’t it interesting how the church members just LOVE her and those like her (Uchtdorf and Holland)? You would think some might be able to see that and look at what they are saying that is different – or others see that and feel they need to counterbalance.
Lookinghard – another good one today. Quote:“The spirit of the gospel is the spirit of liberty, of flowering, of unfurling, and of growth. It is a pattern of enlarging boundaries, or understanding that enables us to reach across and even dissolve boundaries. Mortality is a beginners’ pool for all of us. The limitations that provide safety in this life are temporary. If we try to make them permanent or endow them with eternal significance, we will limit ourselves and stifle our own growth.”
Boundaries pg. 16
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