I’m a man and this is my take on it: It’s best to ignore the church’s TEMPORARY bureaucracy and focus on the family. In the millennium, there won’t be a church like you see today, so all those so-called “honorable callings” really won’t mean a whole lot. The church is for the perfecting of the saints and not much else. Frankly, when Jesus Christ reigns as King of Kings and ruler of rulers, you’ll hang on every word He says as the lawgiver, because you and I already know He’ll be right.

On a more serious note, my father spent his life chasing all those church callings and neglected his own family to go serve others and he’ll get no respect from me for it. We needed him at home, not running all over the place for endless meetings only to see him walk through the door at 10 p.m. regularly and have no energy left for us. I used to hear over and over again from others about how my father did this or thatーit didn’t matter to any of the children in the family. What would have really mattered was a father who proactively fulfilled his role as head of the home the way the Lord intended it.

Look at D&C 93:

42 You have not taught your children light and truth, according to the commandments; and that wicked one hath power, as yet, over you, and this is the cause of your affliction.

43 And now a commandment I give unto you—if you will be delivered you shall set in order your own house, for there are many things that are not right in your house.

I can’t tell you the number of men with the priesthood in the church today who do this exact same thing just like Joseph Smith did. That is an example I won’t follow, because I know where that will lead for my children. Just go look at Joseph Smith III and that should be really good indicator why our families should be the center of our focus and NOT the church. The church’s role is to ASSIST the family. When these two priorities get mixed up, all I see is trouble. Now let me ask you this: As a woman, do you really want to be in this same boat and under the same condemnation for a petty “calling” or the “honors of men/women”?

For now, the relationship where a woman matters most is in her familyーNOT as a CEO and definitely NOT as a Relief Society President. My wife is Queen in my home, and while I don’t support her in her sometimes unwise, unilateral decisions, she gets more work and attention out of me than any other person in this world, period. My wife is the mother of our children, a trusted confidant (more than any church leader could ever be including the prophet himself), a comforter, a cook, a seamstress, a cleaner, and the list goes on and on of all the much appreciated hats she wears in our family. When my kids want something, they go to Mom.

When my kids feel like hanging out with Dad, I get seconds, because they want my wife’s attention first. So what is my title as a father, you may be wondering? Breadwinner? Yay. My wife already bakes better bread than money can buy at the store. What else do I get to do as a dad? Put a roof over my family’s heads, put food on the table, clothe them, manage finances, pay bills, and do backbreaking labor in the yard, so I don’t get a citation from the city for not having the place manicured properly or the grass cut short enough. While I do take time to teach my children, guess what? Most of the time I find out they already learned it from their mother and I’m just playing catch up. In addition, when I see my wife and my kids having fun at the park, going to the zoo, playing sports, and all kinds of other activities together while I’m stuck doing work, I sometimes wish the roles were reversed. But as a man, my job is to suck it up and fulfill the role Heavenly Father put me here to do.

As for men being priesthood holders, I am convinced that when the Lord mentions “all that my Father hath shall be given unto him,” it also means women, too. If women can have the priesthood in the temple to bless like Sheri Dew says, then why not ALL the blessings in the future? I think the human flaw here is PATIENCE. We all want it now, now, NOW (I have been equally guilty of this many times in my own life), but, in fact, maybe what we really need to be doing is smiling a little more and letting the Lord get to things in His own time. To be quite honest, I don’t think the Lord cares all that much about even the prophet or apostles’ desired timelines and will correct/rebuke when necessary. Why? Because He knows best and we don’t.

Please also try to remember this is not a men vs. women sort of interplanetary competition. Women are not from Venus and men are not from Mars. We are all part of the great eternal family of our Heavenly Father. No man gets “eternal lives” without a wife. A man who somehow thinks he does is an unbelievable fool and Satan must have a herd worth of sheep wool pulled over his eyes.

A few thoughts from Isaiah and Psalms before finishing this up:

Isaiah 55:9

9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Despite what some brethren may boast, they are NOT in chargeーthe Lord is.

Psalms 27:14

14 Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.