Preparing for Marriage

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres"

Last week we talked about preparing for marriage in the chapter, "falling in love" I thought it was interesting to read about the different types of love in the greek language, apage,eros, storage, and phillia. In class we were asked, which of those love is correct? I think everyone came to a consent that not one of those words were the right kind of love by itself, rather it was a combination of all of them. Although this is true, I also think love is different for everyone. Love can mean different things that is why we fall for different people. Love can mean something different at different times, that is why we fall for different people. How much easier would it be if we hard a different word for each different kind of love in English? I think there is a reason why we just have the word love. Love is complex, but at times it can also be simple. I think if we had different words for love we could not grasp the whole meaning of the word. I think love has different aspect, like the  quote above is talking about it. Just like when we are dating we are searching for different traits of a person, when you fall in love there is different attributes.

Gender and Family Life

Last week, we learned about gender and its affects on family life. I thought it was an interesting unit because in my family foundations class, we talked and memorized the second section of the proclamation which states, "All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose." It was cool seeing the connections between the two because I was able to connect what we were learning in class to the gospel. Something that really stood out to me was the talks and videos on same sex marriage. As a member of the church I always felt that I didn't have a good understanding where the church stood. I knew marriage was between man and women, but I didn't know how to explain same sex attraction in a affective and appropriate way. The scenarios during class helped understand what do when faced with a friend or a family member who may be having these feelings. I think we are often misinformed, therefore the class discussions really changed the way I looked at things. I gained a better testimony of the sacredness of marriage and how important gender roles are to the fathers plan of happiness. 

Social Class & Cultural Diversity

The first thing that comes to my mind when I hear the word class is education. I never thought of class by rankings or maybe I have, but not to the extreme. I thought the videos were a bit extreme, but what was more disturbing, was that some of them were actually realistic. It was interesting to see what attributes we all picked for the "ideal class" in the class discussion, and even more interesting to see how for a lot of us it was sort of confusing which class the attributes were coming from. I think as much as we don't like to admit, class does define the kind of people we are. To society class is necessary because it is one of the ways to set the population apart. If we were all in the same class then how would we know the people to  hang out with? Now this isn't my personal opinion but from what i've seen I think it is what a lot of people feel. Now onto diversity..well cultural diversity to more specific, I thought it was cool to see some of the cultural patterns between the different cultures. I hate being the person (well since i'm hispanic blah blah) but being that I do come from a predominant hispanic culture it was interesting to read some of the patterns that were out there. For the most part, they were pretty accurate.

Family System

Last week we talked about the different family theories. I liked the systems theory the best because it emphazied the rules and roles that each member plays in the family. I think it is good explanation of how family works especially with the concept of the subsystems.It outlines the boundaries within a family, but also shows that at the same time, they are all working together. I think the system theory makes everyone feel like they are important in the family because each member has certain expectations within the family system. After coming back to school from my off-track I could especially see how my role in the family seemed to just click as soon as I got home. It seemed like I never had left and sometimes I wondered how they survived without me (just kidding). But honestly I was your dog walker,brownie maker, run errands, go drop me off at the train station girl. I liked it though. It made me feel wanted.

Choose your love, love your choice.

"There is great wisdom in those few words. Commitment in marriage is absolutely essential." 

- President. Monson

One of the myths that stood out to me during our class discussions was, people marry each other because they love each other. True. But that doesn't mean because you love them, you have to marry them. There are different types of love and sometimes we let our emotions get the best of us. I'm not married so I don't know what that feels like, but what I do know, is what I've seen in other couples. This weekend I visited one of my friends who just got married (weird). I couldn't help but think about all the things I had learned about in class and the things I had read about, they were sort of my test lab. I noticed a lot of things. I saw how they had to compromise when went to the grocery store, think before she bought something ( we went a little crazy when we got to the mall), and lastly communicate. Sure these are things we should do anyways, but it really changes when you have to think about the other person. That day my parents called me. Well actually my mom called me, but I was sort on speaker because I could clearly hear my dad in the background AND he was responding to everything I was saying. Anyways, as I walked around Walmart with my newlywed friends I saw a little of my parents in them. Maybe it was because I was talking to my parents at the same time, but it was definitely one of those moments that just made you stop. Here were these two people who had been married for less a month and there were my parents who had been married for almost 30 years. Although they were at completely different points in their marriage I could still feel that love. I felt that commitment that President. Monson talked about and I realized there is definitely more to marriage then just the word love. Love can only take you so far, which is a lesson I'm slowly beginning to grasp. So when you pick your love, love your choice.