Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Eternal Family

One belief that Latter-day Saints hold dear is that of Eternal Families. We believe that through the power of the Holy Priesthood, families can be sealed for Time and All Eternity. Our families can be together forever. This is a wonderful blessing from our Heavenly Father.

At the October 1996 General Conference, Elder Robert D. Hales gave a talk about Eternal Families. The talk is filled with scripture regarding the eternal nature of families and God's plan for his children. The line that struck me most, however, was not scripture. It was a comment made by Elder Hales made after quoting Doctrine & Covenants 132:19. He said:

"As taught in this scripture, an eternal bond doesn't just happen as a result of sealing covenants we make in the temple. How we conduct ourselves in this life will determine what we will be in all the eternities to come. To receive the blessings of the sealing that our Heavenly Father has given to us, we have to keep the commandments and conduct ourselves in such a way that our families will want to live with us in the eternities."

This was such a powerful statement to me. My husband and I married in the LDS Arizona Temple. We are sealed and our children our sealed to us. But as Elder Hale pointed out, being sealed is not the only thing that we must do. We must 1) Keep the commandments and 2) Conduct ourselves in such a way that our family will WANT to live with us in the eternities! I knew the "keep the commandment" part, but had not thought about whether my family would want to be with me forever. Isn't that an amazing concept!

Are we treating our spouse in a way that they will want to be with us forever? What about our children? Do we show them love and respect? Do we treat them like the children of God that they are? Or do we abuse the role of parent? Will those darling children want to be with you for all eternity? Or would they rather be with their friend's family?

I love my family and I want to be with them through the eternities. I'm pretty sure that they want to be with me too. But even so, I am going to strive even harder to conduct myself in such a way that my family will want to be with me forever. To earn their love and respect. And to teach them the commandments, so that we can all make it back to our Father in Heaven together!

3 comments:

JuliaGulia said...

Wow this in an amazeing thought. Thank you for sharing it with me. I too had listened to his talk and had known of the keeping the commandments part but this WANTING thing is new and I am also going to try my best to be the best mom and wife so my family will want to also be with me. Thank you.

Laurie said...

What a humbling thought! I know of people who say that their kids are stuck with each other for eternity so they might as well get along now. But that isn't quite true, is it? We have to earn each other's trust and respect and love, so we all WANT to spend eternity with each other. Good post! Thanks!!

The Bach 10 said...

Ditto!!

You are an amazing women!! I appreciate finding someone else who has their priorities straight and isn't afraid to share it with others!

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