Practice to Prepare

This week in class, we read a talk that was given by Bruce A. Chadwick at a BYU devotional on May 7, 2002.  Chadwick titled his address,"Hanging out, Hooking up, and Celestial Marriage." I had to include this talk in my blog this week, even though I would like to talk about something else, because I feel like it is important for everyone to hear his message.   In it, Chadwick talks about 5 ways we can gain and strengthen Eternal Marriage.  Great message, please read by clicking on this link:  Hanging out, Hooking Up, and Celestial Marriage

 Until this week, I guess I have been naive to the world's standard of modern dating.  I didn't realize the pressures a young women feels, if the man pays for the date, to be in some kind of debt to him.  I didn't realize how casual dating has gotten.  These things ultimately take us away from the bigger picture of Eternal marriage.  I can see how Satan is working very hard to destroy families, so why not start at the very beginning...dating!  I wanted to address the 3 p's of proper dating; Planned, Paid for, and Paired off.  First off, the date should be planned.  The young man should take charge of this, if this is the first date or two...after that, I feel like the young women could feel free to take a turn.  He should carefully plan his date.  When, where and what you will be doing, etc.  After that, he should also plan on taking care of the costs of the date.  It doesn't mean expensive, some of the best dates are free, but just take care of any costs that might come up.  The last "p" is important so that the two on the date can have a better chance to get to know each other, and feel a connection(or see if there is one).  Now these 3 p's are for a proper date. Most of the time it is the man's responsibility to insure that the p's are in place...Now let us look at The Proclamation.  In this, it talks about the responsiblity/role that a husband has over his home.  Notice it is once again, the 3 p's(My brilliant teacher is the one who figured this out, so I must give him the credit)  They are Preside, Provide, and Protect.  Each of these seems to go hand and hand with the 3 p's of dating.
Planned-----Preside
Paid for-----Provide
Paired off---Protect
Can you see how they are connected?  Can you see how dating, in the proper way, is practicing and preparing us for our roles in our eternal family?  Now gentlemen, when you follow these steps in dating, I assure you the women's role of Nurturing will be there. :D  The proclamation was carefully written...with many drafts.  We need this message more than ever.  We need to protect our roles as men and women, marriage, and the family.  Let us start(throw off Satan's plan) at the very beginning, with the 6 p's of dating!