Feminism and the Sacrament of Birth

I read some really great articles a couple of nights ago that my friend sent me (thanks, Joanne!)  One of them is about feminism in the Mormon church.

I am a Mormon Because I am a Femininst

Ever since studying the proclamation deeply in classes at BYU and learning to understand stewardships, I have felt very equal to my husband in the eyes of God and very valued by Him.  I am thankful for my distinct feminine role in His plan.  I have learned to LOVE it.  I didn't always love it.  Becoming a mother turned my previously selfish world upside down (I was rather a spoiled gal).  I shed some tears and learned a lot.  As I devoted myself to motherhood, I came to treasure it and it has brought me more happiness than I could have ever imagined.

Here's one of my favorite parts of the article:

"Only the children could choose to leave, and to bring to pass a separation from their divine parents. And so in the Garden were placed a son and a daughter of God, and two trees. Two persons, two trees.

"Both Trees represented doorways along the journey of the Great Plan. The First Tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, symbolized the doorway leading from heaven, and the ordinances of entering mortality with a mortal body, gaining full agency, and having the light of Christ awakened within. The Second Tree, the tree of eternal life, symbolized the ordinances of salvation and exaltation, and the doorway back to our heavenly home.

"Eve was created second, then, not because she was derivative of Adam: she was created second to highlight that the giving of the gift of the First Tree was the gift to be given by women in the Great Plan.  It is through women that souls journey to mortality and gain their agency, and in general it is through the nurturing of women, their nurturing love of their children, that the light of Christ is awakened within each soul. And we should include in that list of souls Jesus the Christ. Even Christ our Lord was escorted to mortality and veiled in flesh through the gift of a woman, fed at his mother’s breast, and awakened to all that is good and sweet in the world. Women escort every soul through the veil to mortal life and full agency. It is interesting to think that even Adam, who was created before Eve, entered into full mortality and full agency by accepting the gift of the First Tree from the hand of a woman. In a sense, Adam himself was born of Eve."

She later explains the interdependence of men and women:

"The LDS believe that Adam and his sons will give the gift of the fruit of the Second Tree to the children of God, those who are worthy to receive it, just as Eve and her daughters give the fruit of the First Tree to all who are worthy to partake of it. The fruit of the Second Tree is the ordinances of salvation and exaltation administered by the sons of God. Just as the doorway through the veil into this life is administered and guarded over by the women, the daughters of God, so the doorway through the veil that brings us home is administered and guarded over by the sons of God. And those that have accepted the gift of the Second Tree from the hands of the sons of God will pass through that veil and back to that celestial place where they can be with their Parents once more."

I had never considered the tree analogy.

I found another gem of an article when I looked at the footnotes.  I encourage all of my pregnant friends to read it, as well as those who have been pregnant or will be pregnant or know someone who has been.

The Sacrament of Birth

I loved this thought,

"During this incubation period within our mothers’ womb, our bodies are constructed. Because the Lord considers our bodies to be temples, we can consider our mothers to be the primary temple constructers."

She brings up so many parallels and symbolism that have to do with birth.  Here is an example:

 "In order for pregnancy to take hold, an entirely unique organ, the placenta, must be created to link the mother and her offspring. In its original Latin, placenta literally means cake. This cake, or bread-like organ serves to transmit essential nutrients from the mother to nourish the developing fetus, and in return conducts life-harming wastes produced by the fetus to be processed by the mother’s body. The ‘Bread of Life’ performs a similar function in our lives as He nourishes us spiritually and bears the responsibility of cleansing us. Christ said of himself, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."

The entire article was fascinating and gave me a renewed energy and perspective for this last trimester of my pregnancy.

I am so grateful for the incredible gift and ability to create and nurture a human life - to help Heavenly Father's precious children work through this test called mortal life, to learn to choose Him when not in His presence, to learn to see through their spiritual eyes, and to make their way back to His loving arms.