This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the General Relief Society Meeting of the October 2009 conference.
Julie B. Beck is my favorite Relief Society General President because she is a woman after my own heart, prioritizing motherhood and home.
She quotes from the First Presidency in 1942, the occasion of the centennial of the Relief Society:
Members [of Relief Society] should permit neither hostile nor competitive interests of any kind to detract from the duties and obligations, the privileges and honors, the opportunities and achievements of membership in this great Society.
I grew up watching my mother and grandmother attend and participate in Relief Society. I wanted to be there too because I thought that was where the action was. They got things done! They learned things. They made things. They served others all the time. Or so it seemed to me. Relief Society seemed so important to them and they had deep relationships with their sisters.
I so looked forward to becoming an adult sister in the gospel so I could fully participate in Relief Society. While I served as a missionary (1979-80) the church did away with the mid-week meetings and Relief Society became a Sunday meeting with a once a month homemaking night. I felt so cheated!
The once a month meeting went through several permutations and at this meeting Sister Beck retired the cumbersome name, Home, Family and Personal Enrichment, simplifying it to simply calling the meeting a Relief Society meeting, and by whatever it consisted of--service, classes, projects, conferences, or workshops.
I especially appreciate the instruction she gives about what these meetings should be.
Under the direction of the bishop, the ward Relief Society presidency can use these meetings to address the spiritual and temporal needs of individuals and families in the ward and to strengthen sisterhood and unity. . . . This is where they learn and practice skills that will help them increase their faith and personal righteousness, strengthen families and homes, and provide service to those in need.
This is what I think my grandmother's and mother's generations did so well! I wish every Relief Society presidency could experience the true vision of Relief Society. I attended one ward in Arkansas last year that seemed to be the closest I'd seen in over fifteen years. (I'd love to move to that ward!)
Sister Sylvia H. Allred, First Counselor to Sister Beck, said, "Your attendance at Relief Society Sunday meetings will bless you, but your participation in the work of Relief Society will bless the whole church."
The whole church, in fact, the whole world needs the blessings of the work of Relief Society.