Good Ideas Belong to Everyone

"Sister Elaine Jack said with a smile, “You know, Elder Ballard, the [women] of the Church may have some good suggestions … if they [are] asked. After all, … we are their mothers!" - Neil L. Andersen, "Power in the Priesthood"

I never wanted to write a letter to an apostle until I was called into a Primary Presidency.

My concerns were primarily logistical, and they stayed at the ward and stake level. "We can't do Cub Scouts in this ward! There are so many language barriers that make it hard to get normal paperwork filled out! Even getting everyone to give me their rechartering certificate was almost impossible with all the computer issues people faced week after week! Can't we just do Activity Days for Boys? They would still get to do fun stuff, only we wouldn't have to buy them patches and pins!"

As it turned out, repeating that mantra multiple times over multiple months to leadership was sufficient, and the ward switched to Activity Days. To be honest, I felt a little guilty that I had brought it up so much since I was throwing in the towel after only one recharter and Blue and Gold banquet, but I felt a little validated a few months later when the Church announced it would formally withdraw from the Scouting program in 2020.

You could argue I had been a few months ahead of the prophet and therefore was in the wrong. But regardless, it was still a good idea.

That wasn't the thing I wanted to write a letter about, though. The main thing was just how difficult it was to staff a ward like the one I was currently in. I knew my time in it was short, and I knew that it really was fairly functional considering everything it was up against. But as I thought about it, I realized most wards outside of the US or certain parts of Latin America (and plenty within those areas) were likely facing the same challenges we did (transportation, kids who wanted to come but their parents didn't, multiple languages, burdens on young families). Did they know about these challenges?

As it turned out, they did. And the very next conference, President Nelson freed up all of the High Priest Group leadership so they could help out with callings such as Primary! I again felt so grateful for their inspiration.

***

There's a phrase people say, "Prophets are fallible, but no one believes it." I don't think that's accurate -- I think most members really don't mind that prophets are human too. What people like less is the idea of them needing input from lay members.

I mean, surely if Joseph Smith could translate the Book of Mormon without any prior knowledge of ancient languages, then modern leaders could determine which missions to open and which ones to close without looking at data, right? Surely God can lay out clear visions of how to write manuals or design temples.

And yet . . . there are divisions in the Church Office Building devoted to data mining and statistical analysis of all those numbers missionaries track. There are correlation committees and temple contractors and all sorts of jobs that seem rather, well, mundane.

So, okay, fine, but that doesn't mean they really want or need lay members to share their opinions, right? They would never put out surveys, right?

They do that too.

I absolutely believe that revelation can come in bursts of light straight from heaven, but I think most of the details to implement those revelation come in less dramatic ways. Those details include stake executive secretaries who suddenly have three times as many interviews to schedule. They include committees called to sing each hymn that's submitted. They include a lot more surveys and statistics than we like to romanticize.

A friend of mine recently had a song come straight into her heart that she asked me to help transcribe and write accompaniment for. The song was absolutely a revelation. My part, though, was to use the gifts of God that had already been given to me to write it down. I spent hours tapping my leg to figure out the syncopation and time signature changes. I used my perfect pitch to figure out the notes without too much help from the piano. I input the notes using computer software on a laptop with an external monitor on the other side of the piano due to a broken laptop screen. It was tedious. But the fact that my part was tedious didn't mean that her part wasn't inspired. That's just how revelation works sometimes.

And any amount of mundane, human, tedious input doesn't mean it's not inspired. It's still a good idea.

***

In April 2013, Jean Stevens was the first woman to offer a prayer in General Conference. Prior to her prayer, several women had sent letters to the First Presidency asking that this change be made.

And it was.

But the Church had already been planning to do it. Six months earlier they had lowered the mission age, and they had several other changes in the works. It was just a coincidence that the letters had coincided with the pre-planned change.

So, were those women wrong in writing those letters? Were they out of line, steadying the ark, exhibiting no faith in the prophet?

That's between them and God to decide. I will say I do know people who don't like to stir things up who were nonetheless led by the Spirit recently to write letters to the First Presidency about similar concerns. And their concerns were addressed.

Perhaps we worry too much about where an idea comes from or when an idea comes when the real question is, "Is it a good idea?"

And, as it turns out, feminists have good ideas. Prophets have good ideas. People of any race, nationality, sex, age, educational attainment, or marital status can have good ideas.

And I don't think we need to be scared or defensive when someone outside of our "group" has a good idea, even if it's shared more forcefully than we approve. Instead, I think we should evaluate the idea based purely on its own merits. And if it really is a good idea, then the primary feeling we ought to have is gratitude. We ought to have gratitude that Heavenly Father can communicate good ideas to any of His children. We ought to have gratitude that we are part of a church where we know firsthand that God speaks! We ought to have gratitude that it is an organized church that can handle good ideas coming from anyone -- regardless of the original source, there will be an organized pattern for the good idea to make its way to all of the members, and we all can have witnesses of its truth.

As Joseph Smith said,

People acting together are the foundation of the authority of the church. “I informed the people [that in] the government of the church, in business transactions, every man should have a voice in the matter as if the whole responsibility were on his shoulders.

-Joseph Smith, JD 3.89 (as quoted in Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints)

 And, like we learn from Joseph F. Smith, we ought to have gratitude for our Savior. In Section 138 of the Doctrine and Covenants, he tells his story:

 2 And reflecting upon the great atoning sacrifice that was made by the Son of God, for the redemption of the world;
3 And the great and wonderful love made manifest by the Father and the Son in the coming of the Redeemer into the world;
4 That through his atonement, and by obedience to the principles of the gospel, mankind might be saved.

He reads some scriptures, and what happens next?

11 . . . the eyes of my understanding were opened, and the Spirit of the Lord rested upon me, and I saw the hosts of the dead, both small and great. 

He saw one of the most magnificent visions ever! He learned so much about what happens after we die, and it gave so much hope to people exhausted by war and influenza.

If we look on good ideas with gratitude and charity rather than derision or judgment due to their original source, then I think we will see and learn even more magnificent things.

And it will be wonderful.