Families

One aspect of the belonging to this church that I feel especially fond of is the focus on families, and eternal families. Now that I am a mother this has taken on a whole new meaning. This gospel isn't a race to the finish, or all about trying to outshine the next person. It is about having a family and finding our way back to our Heavenly Father's presence together.

I am especially thankful for the Family Proclamation that was given when I was in my youth so that I could grow up with it and now cherish each part of it as I endeavor to raise a celestially bound family. I want to share a part of it today and hope that we can each reflect on it with a stronger faith and testimony of the principles taught within it. I pulled an excerpt out for reflection but feel free to click the above link and read the entire thing.

The first commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve pertained to their potential for parenthood as husband and wife. We declare that God’s commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force. We further declare that God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife.

We declare the means by which mortal life is created to be divinely appointed. We affirm the sanctity of life and of its importance in God’s eternal plan.

Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. “Children are an heritage of the Lord” (Psalms 127:3). Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, to teach them to love and serve one another, to observe the commandments of God and to be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.

I pray that we will always hold true to these values and be a good example of them to our family and friends. What blessings have you noticed in your life as a result of holding true to these values?