Family is the best

This morning, I read a woman's blog post about LDS women. Though I think her intents were good, I was uncomfortable by some of the impressions I got from reading the post. On and off all day I've thought of the oft repeated words of a prophet, "No other success can compensate for failure in the home."


In that light I just wanted to share a few thoughts from General Authorities on family (click on the speaker name for a link to the source of the quote).


President Eyring:
"Our most important and powerful assignments are in the family. They are important because the family has the opportunity at the start of a child’s life to put feet firmly on the path home. Parents, brothers and sisters, grandparents, aunts and uncles are made more powerful guides and rescuers by the bonds of love that are the very nature of a family."

President Eyring (again): 

"the greatest joys and the greatest sorrows we experience are in family relationships. The joys come from putting the welfare of others above our own. That is what love is. And the sorrow comes primarily from selfishness, which is the absence of love."

Elder Bednar:
"Feeling the security and constancy of love from a spouse, a parent, or a child is a rich blessing. Such love nurtures and sustains faith in God. Such love is a source of strength and casts out fear (see 1 John 4:18). Such love is the desire of every human soul."

President Monson:
"Near the end of his life, one father looked back on how he had spent his time on earth. An acclaimed, respected author of numerous scholarly works, he said, “I wish I had written one less book and taken my children fishing more often.”

Time passes quickly. Many parents say that it seems like yesterday that their children were born. Now those children are grown, perhaps with children of their own. “Where did the years go?” they ask. We cannot call back time that is past, we cannot stop time that now is, and we cannot experience the future in our present state. Time is a gift, a treasure not to be put aside for the future but to be used wisely in the present."

My prayer is that all of us, including myself, will seek to gain a greater testimony of the importance of the family. All of us can do that regardless of our age, gender, marital status, etc. I hope also, that with an increased testimony of the family, we will then change our behavior to more fully align with that divine standard: "faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities"

My Family
(minus everyone who isn't in this picture)

Weekend

Note: I originally wrote this back in May, but I forgot about it. I decided to post it now.
Last weekend, Chris and I drove to Logan and did a session up there. After the session, Chris made the comment that the outside of the temple looked like it was built in Pioneer days and the inside looked like the 1960s. That's pretty much accurate. The temple was originally finished in 1884 and the outside walls are still the original walls. The inside was completely gutted and renovated in the 70s.

My parent's were married in that temple, and even though I'd never been inside it before, I felt like I belonged there. This is the temple where my parents began their life together. It's the place where my Grandparents spent hours upon hours serving a temple mission. Something about losing a loved one makes you love the places where they spent time. Being in that temple, I could imagine my Grandpa sitting in thoughtful silence in those rooms.

I am thankful for temples. They are the houses of God. The saving ordinances are found there.