With Mitt Romney running for president of the United States, the Mormon Church has been getting a lot of National media coverage, some good, and some bad. Some people fear that a Mormon president would force Mormon standards on the nation. Of course that would be impossible. Some people think that a Mormon president would make all of his choices based on beliefs of the Mormon Church. Actually, while the Church encourages members to vote and be active in their communities, the Mormon prophet rarely encourages members to vote in a particular direction.

When the Church encourages its members to take a particular side in politics, it is always on issues of maintaining the family and morality, and not about particular candidates. The Church does not require any political allegiances, and many Mormons belong to the Democratic (and other non-GOP) parties.

Mormon Doctrine sometimes seems to favor certain ideologies over others, but no political party is in direct alignment with Church beliefs. The Mormon Church does stand against homosexual marriage, for the benefit of children and the traditional family-this isn’t because homosexual marriage somehow destroys families that already exist, but because it will destroy the benefits society gets from traditional marriage (by decreasing the incentive to marry heterosexually), like stable families that produce children that are healthy, happy, and productive. The Church believes that in general, abortion is wrong, but the Mormon Church also believes that there are situations in which abortion is the right answer, as in cases of rape, incest, or risk to the mother’s health.

The important thing about Mormon doctrine is that the Church doesn’t control people. Everyone has their own agency, and their own ability to vote how they like, with no consequences from the Church. The Church does not advocate or endorse and political candidates, and the political choices of Mormons are their own business. A large group of people who have the same beliefs can choose to advocate those beliefs differently from each other.

Every member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is autonomous in his or her actions. There are consequences to serious sins or crimes (taking away Church privileges or membership), but political leanings do not fall into those categories.

As the Church is getting much recognition (and sometimes insult) because Mormonism has been brought into the limelight, we need to be a good example of what Mormons are like, and what we believe. About Mitt Romney, he certainly isn’t controlled by the Mormon Church either. His presidential candidacy is about his own political leanings, and like any other religious leaders, he can make decisions with a basis in what the country needs outside of his religious beliefs. He will have to, since the Mormon Church rarely gives political advice.

Wayne E. Brikey, in Making Sense of Suffering, compared our discipleship to Christ to a marriage. Marriage can be difficult, and in those hard times, we need to reaffirm our commitment. Similarly, when being a member of the Mormon Church isn’t as perfect as we may have once expected, we must recommit to the savior.

Mormon temple marriage

In Mormon temples, we marry for eternity. We also make covenants to God that we will obey him for eternity. Marriage relationships compare easily to our relationships with God. In a marriage, love cannot thrive where there is no work. Married couples need to serve each other, do things together, work hard for the good of their family, and spend time in working to understand each other. Marriage relationships need to be nourished from the inside by unselfishness and willingness to listen to the other partner. Marriages do not survive without our watchful care.

Temple covenants with God need care, like a temple marriage

Just like some newlywed couples, we sometimes expect our relationship with God to be perfect, and for everything to keep itself up. We love him, after all. But we can’t expect “love” to carry the relationship through for us. God is perfect, and his love will always hold up his end of the bargain-he has already atoned for our sins and still does continually bless us. Our love, however, does not survive without hard work. We need to work with the Lord to serve his Church. We need to serve others with the aid of the Lord. We need to nourish our relationship with God by listening to him, being unselfish in our personal wants, and talking to him.

Even when one half of the relationship is being held up by Deity, we need to constantly watch and care for the bond. If we don’t, it may fail. This relationship is too important to let fall, and it is never the other party’s fault. We can tell ourselves we are too busy, too tired, or too mad to do our part to keep the relationship. People every day do it in their marriages, and we see the results in a high divorce rate. We cannot afford to not reach out, work, and listen unselfishly in our relationships, either with God or with our spouses.

Keeping temple covenants is the key to marriage relationships and relationships with God

As couples work hard to keep their marriages alive, they grow to love one another. Working together and serving each other have that amazing effect. In the same way, we can learn to love God more and know him more when we work with him and serve him. Keeping temple covenants is the key to upholding our end of the relationship, both with God and with our spouses. The spiritual strength that comes from obeying God has great power to heal marriages. Whether the relationship is with an imperfect, sometimes irresponsible, occasionally annoying mortal or with a perfect, loving Father in Heaven, we must do our all to hold up the relationship. Your relationships will always be your responsibility, and you have the power to keep them.

Many in the world disregard marriage as either a prison or a fleeting attachment. In Mormon doctrine, on the other hand, marriage is sacred, and there is happiness and fulfillment to be found in marriage that cannot be found elsewhere. Life together isn’t meant to be easy, but it is meant to help us grow and be fulfilled. Elder David A. Bednar said,

“As a husband and wife are each drawn to the Lord, as they learn to serve and cherish one another, as they share life experiences and grow together and become one, and as they are blessed through the uniting of their distinctive natures, they begin to realize the fulfillment that our Heavenly Father desires for His children. Ultimate happiness, which is the very object of the Father’s plan, is received through the making and honoring of eternal marriage covenants.” (“Marriage Is Essential to His Eternal Plan,” Ensign, Jun 2006, 86)

We have to do things in marriage that can be hard: serving each other, sharing life experiences (life can be difficult), uniting different natures, and keeping covenants. Everyone has struggles in doing these things, but these struggles help us grow closer to the Lord. The hard times and the strength we build to overcome them with the Lord are what bring the happiness and fulfillment God promises.

A temple marriage gives a couple covenants to keep that are goals for each of them in the marriage. As couples keep promises to the Lord, they will also keep promises to each other. God’s commandments are meant to bring people together, especially in marriages, and if we obey God, we can treat those around us the way Jesus would. In a marriage, there are many things that can divide the attention and devotion of either partner, whether it be a car, a job, some worldly goal, or another person, these things pull marriages apart. When couples let their devotion to each other only be partnered with a devotion to God, they grow closer together.

During the hard times, it is sometimes easier to turn to something outside of the marriage for help, comfort, or distraction. The only thing we can turn to that will help the family and the marriage is the Lord. He can help us heal and turn back to our marriages and families with love, growing closer to them by growing closer to him. Our marriages and families are what truly bring us happiness, both in this life and in the eternities. The Lord wants us to have that happiness, and he does everything to help us reach it. He gives us temple ordinances that unite families for eternity, and if we turn to him, he can give us the strength we need to keep marriages strong and families together.

“You women, be good women, be good mothers. Be kind and gracious and generous. Strengthen your children with your faith and your testimony. Lift them up. Help them to walk through the troubled ways of the world as they grow in this very difficult age. Support, sustain, uphold, and bless your husbands with your love and your encouragement; and the Lord will bless you. Even if they are not members of the Church, bless them with kindness and reach out to them every good way that you can. The chances are that they will become members of the Church before they reach the time they die. It may be a long time and you may have a lot to put up with, but if that happens, you will think it is all worth it” (Gordon B. Hinckley, “Inspirational Thoughts,” Ensign, Mar. 2006, 4).

The Mormon Prophet has told women that we can be blessed by Heavenly Father if we “support, sustain, uphold, and bless” our husbands. Women have an amazing power to influence and build up those around them, and it is the duty of women to use that powerful influence to encourage our families to choose the right.

It may seem like a lot for the Mormon Church to ask women to constantly lift up children and support husbands, but the blessings of that service are amazing. When we reach out to others to lift them up and help them on the right path, we can forget our own problems. The Lord has limitless power to help each of us with our own problems, and as we do his work by supporting our families in righteousness, he will do the work we cannot do by relieving some of the burden of our problems.

Jesus Christ has said, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Sustaining our families is truly taking upon us the yoke of Christ; by doing so we can leave behind our own burdens. Not only do we then bear a light burden, but our burden is to be a light to others-an example of Christ and a help to those in need. As women, we are divinely designed by God to be nurturing, supportive, sensitive, and uplifting to those around us, and that influence is so badly needed in the family. In a world where children are pressured to pick up damaging habits, a world where men are undervalued and often scorned, wives and mothers have the power to overshadow these influences in the lives of their husbands and children. Even when husbands may not seem deserving of kindness, support, and outreach, women can leave the door open for their change and betterment.