"...I want to counsel you as sons, brothers, fathers, and husbands.
As you serve with the women of the Church, follow what Paul said when he
urged Timothy to "intreat the elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters,
with all purity" (1 Tim. 5:1-2). We men of the priesthood ought
to so do. We must be different
than other men, and I am sure most priesthood holders are. Paul's
suggestion that we treat older women as if they were our mothers and younger
women as if they were our sisters and to do so with "all purity" is excellent
instruction. Men of the world may disregard women or see them only
as objects of desire or as someone to be used for selfish purposes.
Let us, however, be different in our conduct and in our relationships with
women.
Peter urged us to give honor unto our wives. (See 1 Pet. 3:7.)
It seems to me we should be even more courteous to our wives and mothers,
our sisters and our daughters, than we are to others. When Paul said
that a man who did not provide for his own and those of his own household
was "worse than an infidel" (1 Tim. 5:8), I like to think of providing
for our own as including providing them with affectional security as well
as economic security. When the Lord told us in this
dispensation that "women have
claim on their husbands for their maintenance" (D&C 83:2), I like to
think of maintenance as including our obligation to maintain loving affection
and to provide consideration and thoughtfulness as well as food.
President Lee once observed that the "needy" around us may need friendship and fellowship as well as food. I sometimes think our own Latter-day Saint women are "needy" just because some of us are not as thoughtful and considerate of them as we should be. Our pantries can be filled with food and yet our sisters can be starved for affection and recognition.
Let us, brethren, support the sisters of our household in their Church callings as they so wonderfully support us. Let us not neglect them simply because they sometimes go on being good even when they are neglected.
Let our homes be filled with praise and commendation for all those of our
household. Let us also, brethren, not get so concerned with our priesthood
peers, those men we are associated with in our church assignments, that
we neglect our eternal companions, for our association with our wives will
be forever.