This is a picture from one of the greatest days of
my life.
Oh I know, it wasn’t all about me on my daughter’s
wedding day but this day last year was in the works long before she even
thought about getting married so I think it is okay for me to claim a little
bit of it for myself and my husband.
In fact, plans for this day and others like this for
our family started back in 1982 – the year my husband and I were married. This was when I really started thinking about
the importance of raising a righteous family of children that would one day go
on and become another family or families.
This is what we were going to work for all the years of our married
life.
My husband referred to our family, our children, as
our greatest investment and at first it sounded a little weird to me. And then he explained what he meant.
He said that nothing is more important to a parent
or a couple than their children.
Everything we do is focused on these people we have brought into our
lives and we are investing all our time, energy, money and knowledge on
them. They are more valuable to us than
any mortgage we will ever hold because we are responsible for teaching them the
Gospel and how to follow the correct path back to our Heavenly Father, so yes, they
are our greatest investment!
From the beginning we wanted to have a good start
and we wanted to be prepared. I remember
when we were newlyweds and thinking about our future family. I believed that everything in our life would
be smooth sailing and that our kids would be these beautiful, handsome and super
smart and really successful people. Mistakes? Of course our kids would never make any and
neither would we!
Tell the truth, you are now smiling and thinking to
yourself, “I used to think the exact same thing!” We all did.
That’s because when we are young we have these
positive outlooks on life and we KNOW that we can do anything. We know how bright our future is and we are
going to make it happen – no matter what.
But how were we going to go about nurturing these
wonderful little people that we would be hopefully blessed with someday? If you were like me, you thought it would
just come naturally.
The reality is that we needed then as we do now
powerful resources to achieve our goal of raising our kids to know the
importance of parents and the family unit.
We needed a blueprint.
We needed inspiration.
We needed help.
Twenty years ago, in September of 1995, when my
daughter Jennifer was just 5 years old, President Gordon B. Hinckley presented “The
Family: A Proclamation to the World”
in a General Relief Society meeting, and at the time it was a welcomed aid that
I was super excited about. In this short
document is placed the exact map for us to follow in regards to our
families. There is no grey area here but
it is a loving document that states directly what a family consists of and what
children need to be raised according to God’s will.
When it was first made available in print I read it
over and over again, because I wanted to know it backward and forward. I wanted it to be so familiar to me that I
wouldn’t even have to think about it.
All my actions would reflect the importance of each word and the meaning
behind what it would mean to truly live the proclamation. Again, my youth and excitement for all things
that were good and that would help my husband and I to raise great kids!
The 7th paragraph is the one that is
studied the most because it gives us in detail the description of our roles in
our families as parents but the 1st paragraph really encompasses the
whole document. For me the first
paragraph is so very powerful because it states the two things that we know for
sure and they are the basis for all we do in our homes.
“We, the First Presidency and
the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God
and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His
children.”
Wow! How
could you read that first statement and not just be fired up to live a
righteous life and be a better parent?
I thought I was already on the right track but this document was just
what I needed to really be the parent I always thought I should be except for
one thing. I wasn’t going to be doing it
on my own and it wasn’t because I had this great intuition. It was the proclamation that was going to set
me straight and help lead my husband and I on the right course for our
family. Not my course, but Heavenly
Father’s course.
This paragraph gave me strength as a parent because
it reaffirmed the fact that marriage between a man and a woman is Heavenly
Father’s will for us. There is no
question on this point.
When our children were young this topic was not
really in the mainstream that people were talking about but parents now
certainly are faced with this issue because their children are hearing it at
school. Every day. This is a challenge to say the very least and
I worry about all young parents now. I
pray for my children who are now parents themselves, that they will be in tune
with what Heavenly Father wants for their families. I pray that they will know how to answer the
difficult questions that will be coming their way regarding the family and how
it is to be organized because they will surely come.
I also love the statement that our families are at
the center of Heavenly Father’s plan for us to return to live with Him. That to me reaffirms the importance of our
job as parents and the need to place the focus of all that we do on our
families. If we don’t do it, someone
else will be more than happy to lead your children – in another direction.
This is where I would like to make an important
point because I think that family scripture study is an activity we can do as a
family that is so beneficial to The Family Proclamation because it is going to
help keep our children – your children – close to you and on Heavenly Father’s
path. And that is what The Proclamation
is all about!
When our oldest son was 8 years old, our youngest
was born and it was such a sweet time for us but man was I stressed and
tired. Every day I got up and wondered
if I would make it through the day because of exhaustion but I loved being a
mother and knew that I needed to take care of all of their needs. My husband was busy working and I was at home
caring for our kids and this was exactly what I wanted to be doing.
Since we were so busy the only time we had to read
scriptures as a family was at night before everyone went to bed. This was an important time for us and we
didn’t want to miss out on it – even if some of us slept through the actual
reading part! I will be honest and say
that sometimes I fell asleep too but our good intentions were there.
Our oldest son Matthew loved to lay on the floor
while we were reading and he would follow along and listen but sometimes it
went just a little too long for him and he would fall asleep. We would try to wake him up but sometimes he
was just too far gone.
Years later I remember talking to some family
members at an extended family function about our scripture reading experiences
and mentioning in a joking manner that Matthew slept through some of our family
scripture time, in particular when we were reading “Jesus the Christ.” Matthew,
who was standing right next to me at the time said to my surprise and
enjoyment, that he might have had his eyes closed or even been asleep but he
remembered just about everything we read.
In fact I believe he quoted some pretty heavy
doctrine that even I had forgotten. So cool
when these special moments occur for parents!
When they happen for you – WRITE THEM DOWN! They are precious.
As time goes on things are going to become more and
more difficult for parents so it is imperative that we use our most valuable
tools that we have to fend off evil, to teach our children the Gospel of Jesus
Christ AND to most importantly, know and understand the importance of the
family unit. Because of the
Proclamation, we know how to organize and steer our families toward eternal
life. What a great blueprint for
everyone!
Use this document in your life now as a parent so
that on one of the greatest days of your life, you will be able to look back
and say that you had prepared for a day that was all about one of your kids –
but in reality, it was all about you too.
“The Family: A Proclamation to
the World” is that document that will help you achieve that goal!
If you enjoyed this post, please feel free to share it on social media! You can read more sage advice from Becky on her blog: BeckyHasBeenBlogging.com!
Be sure to check out the other host blogs today for more wonderful posts and testimonies about family.
You can also share your love of family by sharing photos online this month under the hashtag #ILovetheFamilyProclamation.
Here are links to the other blogs:
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