Married Mormon Girl Problems

Ok, it's only one problem, but lately on Pinterest and Twitter people are into naming problems for a specific group of people. For example, "Skinny kid problem #477: The day you forget to wear a belt someone tries to pull your pants down." Sometimes it's funny. Sometimes I don't get it. Whatever. It's hot right now.

Married Mormon Girl Problems

#1. If you miss church, the ward assumes you've got morning sickness.

I had a cold this past week, and it decided to go from bad to worse on Sunday, so I couldn't go to church. My husband told some people I was sick, but didn't get the chance to explain to all of them that I had a cold. Undoubtedly, there are probably a few people now entertaining the idea of a pregnant Lindsey. Nope. No pregnant Lindsey. Just a coughing and sniffling Lindsey.

Once marriage hits, gone are the days of innocent sickness or strange behavior. The assumed reason for every ailment or oddity is pregnancy. You mention that you can't get enough pickles lately, and suddenly the other person's eyes bulge and in their mind erupts the word PREGNANT. You mention you're tired. PREGNANT! You're not hungry. PREGNANT! Your stomach growls. PREGNANT! Of course, it's usually not said out loud. But are they thinking it? You bet.

Because we're in a married student ward, pregnancy runs rampant throughout the ward. When I say rampant, I mean RAMPANT. There are babies everywhere. Don't get me wrong, they are adorable. I love babies. A lot. The tiny-ness is absolutely irresistible. But I've figured out what happens when you love on the babies too much. People get thinking you have this unquenchable thirst for baby, and that this thirst can only be quenched by parenthood. Then they ask when you're going to start having kids.

Maybe it's just me, but I feel like this question is a little too personal. Beginning parenthood is a pretty sacred and personal thing, and yet this question gets thrown around so casually. I think the decision of when to start a family is completely between a husband, a wife, and God. Nobody else needs to know the details.

Maybe I'm wrong, but before God created Adam I really doubt anybody asked Him, "So...when are you going to start working on Adam?" Or, "You've been working on Earth for a while... aren't you getting kind of Adam-hungry?" Regardless of whether or not He was actually asked that, it wouldn't have mattered because God has a plan and a specific timetable for that plan. God waited until our earthly home was absolutely complete, then He took the next step and created Adam. He did things when the time was right, and not a second before.

In my mind, God's creation of man is very similar to the creation of our own families. Just as the Earth was created first, a marriage must first be created. After the earth was created, it was filled with beautiful landscapes, plants, and animals. Every last detail was taken care of by God. Likewise, after a marriage is created, it needs to be developed and beautified. I'm not saying that a marriage should be perfect before kids can come along--people would never get to the point where they could have kids! What I'm saying is, there should be a period of growth. For some couples this period of growth might be years, and for others it could be 9 months. It is entirely up to the couple and God as to how long this period should be. We don't know how long it took God to prepare Earth for man--it might have been a matter of hours or perhaps billions of years. But it doesn't really matter how long it took; God took as much time as He thought was appropriate.

After the earth was prepared and the time was right, man was created--the masterpiece of all his creations! Creating man was God's main goal and His crowning gem, but it required a process. Parenthood is the same way--one of the main goals in life is to multiply and replenish the earth, and it very well could be one of the greatest things we accomplish. But it requires a process. It happens when it's supposed to happen. And that's all there is to it.