Daughters of Zion

"It is precisely because the Daughters of Zion are so uncommon that the adversary will not leave them alone."

The more often I have thought about the role of women in the church, the more I have come to realize how important it is that the daughters of the Lord come to know who they are. The daughters of Zion are, in fact, uncommon. We are uncommon because we believe in the family unit: we yearn to be mothers, to have children, to nurture. This undoubtedly sets us apart from many of our sisters in the world... we are unique, uncommon... and it is not a bad thing. We were meant to be a peculiar people--to set an example--surely the women of the church are no different in this manner than the men.

Our divine nature to create and nurture leaves the women of the church as a great threat to Satan... and that is why he works so hard on us. I feel like this is amplified within the LDS church. There is a stereotype of the perfect LDS woman: she has a vegetable garden, cans the products from her garden, keeps an immaculately clean home, produces children who always behave well in sacrament meeting, and is perfectly well kept at all times. This stereotype exists within our church, and far too many women believe that if they cannot meet this "cookie-cutter-mormon woman" they are somehow failing-- somehow less of a woman than her neighbor. This is a lie. Satan works so hard to convince the daughters of Zion that they are not enough. But this is not how the Lord wants his daughters to view themselves. A daughter of Zion needs to "lay aside the things of the world, and seek for the things of a better"--the things that actually matter.