Treasures from RS

Classic Relief Society. One for the history books.
Lesson topic: Divorce.
Yes, I am sure at this point all of you are having the same thoughts as I did: "are you serious?!?", "this is going to spur some interesting conversation," "are we for or against?", "who decided this was going to be a good lesson for a bunch of women to discuss together (especially since some are very very bitter about it)?".
As is always the case in relief society, rather than actually using the lesson material (in this case, Elder Oaks' conference talk) we decided to merely use the topic and go from there. Always a mistake.

Some of my favorites:

• the "you should always stay married because it is best for the children" comment that was shortly followed by the "I have a friend who..." story about how the kids can get seriously messed up by having a false sense of security.
• "he is still verbally abusive, but at least now they only talk every week or two"
• personal anecdote explaining bitter feelings about x-husband and how he "will stand at the judgement bar and will have to explain why he abandoned me and my kids."
• my comment to my neighbor "wow, this lesson is a real upper."
• my neighbor's comment in response "yeah, I feel like I can't comment because I am married and have never been divorced." very wise of her.
• my dad, when I asked him why he chose the topic of Divorce. "no, that is not what I chose, I chose Elder Oaks' talk, it was about communication or something." No dad, it was all about Divorce." He said that he must have been confused because the title was deceiving. He looked up the talk. Title: Divorce. Oops. We need a review committee.
• the uncomfortable looks of many in the audience.

Moral of the story: #1 be careful when you choose a lesson topic. #2 when approaching a potentially controversial subject, always, and I mean ALWAYS let the scriptures/general authorities do ALL of the talking. I promise, it is much much safer. And the Spirit will be there.

I am still laughing. What a good day at church. Oh, and Sunday School was fun too. It involved me making comments about how we are reading into the story of Peter's denials. Bad plan. Very heated. My comments were immediately shot down. That is why I don't comment. Heaven forbid I give Peter the benefit of the doubt. And, my comments were all related to the 2 week study I had done to prepare for this lesson since I was really excited about it. Apparently it is a better plan to talk in depth about Peter's weaknesses. I strongly encourage everyone to read "Peter, My Brother" by Spencer W. Kimball (pretty reliable source if you ask me). I have a print copy, if you would like a copy. Otherwise, you can listen to it online.