This is my ranty post about women and the Priesthood

You have been warned.

I just read an article that frustrated me. It was another one about how women are unequal to men when it comes to the Priesthood, that we are just passive recipients. The real kicker for me was the writer seemed to think that the "exercise of the priesthood itself is the greatest blessing of the priesthood." 

How? How is that possible? How is it that the simple physical acts of giving blessings and presiding in meetings the greatest blessing of the priesthood? Isn't the very definition of the priesthood God's power given to man? The authority to act in God's name? Men are given the priesthood keys, the authority to formally act in God's name. Has anyone ever thought about the informal ways to act in God's name--those ways we can help and bless and lift others and serve and love as Jesus did? Why are we all so hung up on the formal authority? I personally don't care a single bit that I don't have formal authority. I can be an instrument in God's hands just as well using only my loving heart and my desire to do good. 

Why does it matter so much who leads the meetings and who gives the talks if we can ALL actually GO OUT AND BLESS LIVES, regardless? Will it matter more in the eternities if we had the "authority" or if we actually went and did something? I feel like this whole debate is looking short of the mark. We're so hung up with titles and equality that we forget the bigger picture, which is the same for every single human being who has ever lived or ever will live, regardless of race, class, social standing, gender, or chance to have priesthood keys: we are here to do good and to be good, to learn to love unconditionally, and to get our butts back into the presence of God. There is nothing in there about equality or authority or anything but PERSONAL development. Will having the priesthood get me back to God faster? No. Will not having the ability to exercise priesthood authority deny me any blessing? No. God is no respecter of persons. Having or not having in no way influences how He chooses to bestow blessings.

Also, I don't believe that "exercising the priesthood [authority/keys] is the greatest blessing of the priesthood." Merely having the opportunity to exercise authority is NOT on par with the blessings we receive in the temple, which are made available through the priesthood. If you were given the choice between presiding at meetings or, oh I don't know, being able to literally walk back into God's presence, which would you choose? The things we learn and covenant to do in the temple are the greatest and truest blessings of the priesthood, and they apply equally to everyone. 

Why are we so concerned about who is nominally in charge of officiating? Why are we so concerned about who seems to be in charge? Because, news flash, world, neither men nor women are actually running this show. God is. And if He chooses to put men in a more visible leadership role and give them the priesthood keys, I couldn't care less. I couldn't care less if He decided that the roles should be reversed. The thing I care about is that I have a way to get back to Him. And it has nothing to do with who holds the priesthood keys and everything to do with me and my heart and my actions. 

Maybe this makes me a bad feminist. I don't care. I'm tired of hearing people argue about something that matters a lot to the world and not at all to eternity.