Family

Family is an institution of the Lord. The entire purpose of the church and the plan of happiness is to ensure that father, mother, and children are happy at home. The entire point of all the church does with it's meetings, lessons, and activities are to help strengthen families. Since it is the entire point, having children is no small and simple matter. It is crucial that we do our jobs as parents, to raise up our children and families to the Lord. We must teach of Christ, and teach our kids to follow the spirit. We must labor with the strength of our souls so our children can have a firm foundation. We have been told that no success can make up for failure in the home, and I testify that this principle is true.

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. (Henry B. Eyring - April 2010 General Conference “Help them on their way Home” https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2010/04/help-them-on-their-way-home?lang=eng)

Hearts were touched by the proclamation on the family read by President Hinckley last fall because we want for our families what God wants for them: that they will live in love and righteousness. But in our thoughtful moments we know that we will need help. We will need to invite the powers of heaven to guide our families in days when we are not there and to face spiritual dangers we may not foresee. (Henry B. Eyring - April 1996 General Conference “A Legacy of Testimony” https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1996/04/a-legacy-of-testimony?lang=eng)

Since it is the Holy Ghost who testifies of sacred truth, we can do at least three things to make that experience more likely for our families. First, we can teach some sacred truth. Then we can testify that we know what we have taught is true. And Then we must act so that those who hear our testimony see that our actions conform with what we said was true. The Holy Ghost will then confirm to them the truth of what we said and that we knew it to be true. (Henry B. Eyring - April 1996 General Conference “A Legacy of Testimony” https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1996/04/a-legacy-of-testimony?lang=eng)

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.  (Henry B. Eyring - April 1996 General Conference “A Legacy of Testimony” https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1996/04/a-legacy-of-testimony?lang=eng)

Many in our worried society understand that the disintegration of the family will bring only sorrow and hopelessness into a troubled world. As members of the Church, we have the responsibility to preserve and protect the family as the basic unit of society and eternity. The prophets have warned and forewarned about the inevitable and destructive consequence of deterioration of family values. (L. Tom Perry, October 2014 General Conference, “Finding Lasting Peace and Building Eternal Families” https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/finding-lasting-peace-and-building-eternal-families?lang=eng)

Our homes must be holy places in order to stand against the pressures of the world. Remember that the greatest of all the blessings of the Lord come through and are given to righteous families. (L. Tom Perry, October 2014 General Conference, “Finding Lasting Peace and Building Eternal Families” https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/finding-lasting-peace-and-building-eternal-families?lang=eng)

It was Enos who said, “The words which I had often heard my father speak concerning eternal life, and the joy of the saints, sunk deep into my heart” (Enos 1:3). There is no question who Enos’s prime gospel teacher was.

I remember my father stretched out by the fireplace, reading the scriptures and other good books, and I would stretch out by his side. I remember the cards he would keep in his shirt pocket with quotes of the scriptures and Shakespeare and new words that he would memorize and learn. I remember the gospel questions and discussions at the dinner table. I remember the many times my father took me to visit the elderly—how we would stop by to pick up ice cream for one or a chicken dinner for another or his final handshake with some money enclosed. I remember the good feeling and the desire to be like him.

I remember my mother, age 90 or so, cooking in her condominium kitchen and then exiting with a tray of food. I asked her where she was going. She replied, “Oh, I am taking some food to the elderly.” I thought to myself, “Mother, you are the elderly.”

(Tad R. Callister - October 2014 General Conference “Parents: The Prime Gospel Teachers of their Children” https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/parents-the-prime-gospel-teachers-of-their-children?lang=eng)

As parents, we can teach our children to pray for things of eternal consequence—to pray for the strength to be morally clean in a very challenging world, to be obedient, and to have the courage to stand for the right.

(Tad R. Callister - October 2014 General Conference “Parents: The Prime Gospel Teachers of their Children” https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/parents-the-prime-gospel-teachers-of-their-children?lang=eng)

IN THE PREMORTAL REALM, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshipped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize their divine destiny as heirs of eternal life. The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.  (The First Presidency, “The Family- A Proclamation to the World,” 1995)

THE FAMILY is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. (The First Presidency, “The Family- A Proclamation to the World,” 1995)