Well, my last post was pretty hard on boys… at least one in particular. The fact is, I feel a little sorry for Cowboy. He used an unfortunate analogy and almost certainly regrets it. Don’t get me wrong… he
should regret it. But I have to play devil’s advocate here and write one for the boys. As it happens, I usually take the boys’ side in everything. Maybe that is just an occupational hazard for a mother of six sons… not to mention the fact that I have so many other friends who happen to be boys/men… like all the missionaries who have lived in our home... and I think of them all as
my boys. In fact, when I was called to be the teacher for the 16-18 year-old girls in my church for three years, I was a little shocked, and more than a little worried. I wasn’t sure I would be able to like them all that much. I had never had much use for girls. On the whole, they seemed much louder, meaner and more sophisticated (in a bad way) than boys.
To my happy surprise,
I loved the girls. They were beautiful, unselfish and fun, and they have become some of my best friends. That was a nice thing to discover, especially as my own boys were reaching the age where they have begun to marry. My oldest son picked one of the best ones I have ever met, and married her. That is certainly an encouraging start, right? So, back to
my boys… all of them, whether my sons or not. If the girls deserve a boy who is willing to climb to the top of the tree, what do my boys deserve? More than they are getting, in a lot of cases, I’m afraid. When they call to tell me their dating experiences, I am constantly dismayed by what girls put them through. It is bad enough that girls play mind games with
each other, but as boys usually are more straightforward in their interactions, it is most unfair to play mind games with
them. Many of them are not equipped for that sport, and the good ones don’t want to play.
Here is what my boys deserve:
1.
A girl who is beautiful. But beautiful in the right way… a girl who is unfailingly modest in dress, speech and actions. One of the standards of my church is to dress modestly… something that most of the world thinks is rather strange. But my boys deserve nothing less. Whether you see her at the beach, at church, shopping, or just on Facebook, she should be modest. Let me be clear here… this is not because I don’t want the boys to think bad thoughts. My boys can master their thoughts. It is something much more important… it marks a commitment to covenants they have made. And no double standards either... my boys are modest themselves. When my daughter Cambria was about two, she was pointing out swimsuits that she thought were “pretty.” I told her they weren’t very modest, and I asked her if she knew what modest meant. She very smugly told me, “Yes. It means ugly.” We laughed about that for days, but I am here to tell you that it does
not mean ugly. I am a big fan of beautiful, stylish modesty. It is really easy to say that most of the girls wear their skirts too short and their swimsuits too tiny, so you can’t judge a girl by that standard. But I
know girls who are unfailingly modest. They stand out like a bright light from the girls who are not… and my boys deserve nothing less than that.
2.
A girl who is honest. No ex-boyfriends that aren’t really ex. No saying things she doesn’t mean. No pretending to feel more or less than she really does. No treating my boys like a plaything. Honest.
3.
A girl who is unselfish. She needs to care more about others than herself, because that is how my boys are. I have worried, in the affluent area where I live, that DK and I have spent the last twenty years raising sons who can support a family, while my neighbors have spent the same years raising daughters that my boys can never possibly afford to marry. My boys are not just finding a girl to marry; they are finding a mother for their children, and that is about a hundred times more important.
4.
A girl who is kind. She must be kind to her friends, kind to her family, kind to children, and… kind to my boys.
5.
A girl who is better than my boys. Or at least
they think she is. She needs to be so amazing, that they behave better around her. They try harder, and reach bigger goals, because she makes them want to be better men. She safeguards their virtue along with her own. She reminds them of how great they are, encourages them, sets a good example, and yet still follows wise counsel.
Every one of my boys deserves a girl who is better than they are.So come on, girls. It’s time to step it up a little.
Be more to get more. I told you the apple analogy. You can never be that rotten apple sitting on the ground waiting for any lazy boy to scoop you up and take a bite. You are better than that. My boys are better than that. You might wonder how you can compete in a world of girls who use tricks and sexy clothes to get their way. Don’t think for a single minute that my boys can’t tell the difference. Yes, there are boys that are looking for those girls. But I will tell you right now…
not my boys.
The definition of grace is “seemingly effortless beauty.” Expressed in that way, who would not aspire to grace? But it is so much more. Grace is an integral part of the Atonement. It is the process by which God perfects us… rubs off our rough edges… endows us with spiritual gifts which, one by one, make us more like the Savior. I love this quote by Van C. Gessel, Dean of the College of Humanities, BYU: “I am convinced that if we truly grasped the meaning of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, there would be significant changes in the way we view ourselves, the way we treat ourselves when we make mistakes, and the way we interact with those around us who are less than perfect.” He gave this thought-provoking devotional where he talked about how we have to “feel” the Atonement, not just as a spiritual event, but in our very hearts. He proposes that one of the reasons we have our amazing bodies is so that we can experience the Atonement in a physical way. Only then do we let our hearts be changed, and know the power of repentance and of forgiveness. I love the idea of that, have felt it myself, and don’t really know how to even express it. But the music speaks where my words fail. The music always speaks. At least it does to me.
Well, my last post was pretty hard on boys… at least one in particular. The fact is, I feel a little sorry for Cowboy. He used an unfortunate analogy and almost certainly regrets it. Don’t get me wrong… he should regret it. But I have to play devil’s advocate here and write one for the boys. As it happens, I usually take the boys’ side in everything. Maybe that is just an occupational hazard for a mother of six sons… not to mention the fact that I have so many other friends who happen to be boys/men… like all the missionaries who have lived in our home... and I think of them all as my boys. In fact, when I was called to be the teacher for the 16-18 year-old girls in my church for three years, I was a little shocked, and more than a little worried. I wasn’t sure I would be able to like them all that much. I had never had much use for girls. On the whole, they seemed much louder, meaner and more sophisticated (in a bad way) than boys.
I love the way Skip loves nature. He loves camping so much that he pretty much lived in his tent for a week after we got home from Glacier. Up on the hills to the right, DK was taking pictures of white mountain goats on a cliff. Over to the left were fields of the most amazing wildflowers. This was probably one of the five most beautiful places I have ever been. I don’t think I appreciated the beauty of nature when I was young. I just wanted to get where we were going... do something “fun.” But Skippy just takes it all in. Go ahead. Click on the photo and join him.
