POSITION STATEMENT:
Our families are a sacred gift from our Heavenly Father. There is no better way to learn how to love
and to know our Heavenly Father’s love for us than by the blessing of being
part of a family or creating our own family.
Parents are responsible to keep their children safe, teach them, love them and
nurture them as they turn into responsible adults and prepare to rear a family
of their own. In every family, values and
morals are developed and learned as modeled and taught by the parents.
There is a quote that I like that says, “Home should be a refuge from the
storm, not the storm.” The world is chaotic and unkind enough. When our family comes home, we should feel
safe, secure, loved, supported and have a feeling of peace. If we practice treating our family members
more Christ-like then our home can become the refuge from the world that the
Lord intends it to be.
I believe that with quality time and energy spent on our families, we can
develop relationships with our spouse and children based on love, trust,
understanding, patience, and forgiveness. We can develop wonderful, independent
individuals that can go out into the world and make a difference and be a force
for good.
Because our families are special to us, we want to spend forever with
them. Our Heavenly Father wants us to be
able to have eternal families and so He has provided us with temples and sacred
covenants to be sealed together eternally. This covenant is a two-way
promise. We are required to live
righteously to remain worthy of the blessing of an eternal family.
"When we have sampled much and have wandered far and have seen how fleeting and sometimes superficial a lot of the world is, our gratitude grows for the privilege of being part of something we can count on—home and family and the loyalty of loved ones. We come to know what it means to be bound together by duty, by respect, by belonging. We learn that nothing can fully take the place of the blessed relationship of family life."
“Of Things That Matter Most”, October2010 General Conference -Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf
Since “no other success can
compensate for failure [in the home]”, we must place high priority on our
families. We build deep and loving family relationships by doing simple things
together, like family dinner and family home evening and by just having fun
together. In family relationships love is really spelled t-i-m-e,
time. Taking time for each other is the key for harmony at home. We talk with,
rather than about, each other. We learn from each other, and we appreciate our
differences as well as our commonalities. We establish a divine bond with each
other as we approach God together through family prayer, gospel study, and
Sunday worship.
"The key to strengthening our families is having the Spirit of the Lord come into our homes. The goal of our families is to be on the straight and narrow path."
Let Our Voices Be Heard, October 2003 General Conference -M. Russell Ballard
“The family is at the heart of Heavenly Father’s plan because we are all part of His family and because mortality is our opportunity to form our own families and to assume the role of parents. It is within our families that we learn unconditional love, which can come to us and draw us very close to God’s love. It is within families that values are taught and character is built. Father and mother are callings from which we will never be released, and there is no more important stewardship than the responsibility we have for God’s spirit children who come into our families.”
"That the Lost May Be Found", General Conference April 2012 -Elder M. Russell Ballard
Opposite of what many had thought, prosperity and education seem to be connected to a higher likelihood of having traditional families and values.
The real question, of course, is about cause and effect. Do some sectors of our society have stronger values and families because they are more educated and prosperous, or are they more educated and prosperous because they have values and strong families? In this worldwide Church we know that it is the latter. When people make family and religious commitments to gospel principles, they begin to do better spiritually and often temporally as well.
And, of course, societies at large are strengthened as families grow stronger. Commitments to family and values are the basic cause. Nearly everything else is effect. When couples marry and make commitments to each other, they greatly increase their chances of economic well-being. When children are born in wedlock and have both a mom and a dad, their opportunities and their likelihood of occupational success skyrocket. And when families work and play together, neighborhoods and communities flourish, economies improve, and less government and fewer costly safety nets are required.
So the bad news is that family breakdown is causing a host of societal and economic ills. But the good news is that, like any cause and effect, those ills can be reversed if what is causing them is changed. Inequities are resolved by living correct principles and values. Brothers and sisters, the most important cause of our lifetime is our families. If we will devote ourselves to this cause, we will improve every other aspect of our lives and will become, as a people and as a church, an example and a beacon for all peoples of the earth.
"The family unit is fundamental not only to society and to the Church but also to our hope for eternal life. We begin to practice in the family, the smaller unit, what will spread to the Church and to the society in which we live in this world, which will then be what we practice in families bound together forever by covenants and by faithfulness. We can start now to 'promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family.' I pray that we will. I pray that you will ask, "Father, how can I prepare?” Tell him how much you want what he desires to give you. You will receive impressions, and if you act on them, I promise you the help of the powers of heaven."
Set in Order Thy House, October 2001 General Conference" -Elder Russell M. Nelson
"Our family is the focus of our greatest work and joy in this life; so will it be throughout all eternity."
Mothers and Daughter, April 2010 General Conference -Elder M. Russell Ballard
“In these last days it is essential—even critical—that parents and children listen to and learn from one another,”
"We should remember that saying, “I love you” is only a beginning. We need to say it, we need to mean it, and most importantly we need consistently to show it. We need to both express and demonstrate love."
"We should begin by
recognizing the reality that just because something is good is not a sufficient
reason for doing it. The number of good things we can do far exceeds the time
available to accomplish them. Some things are better than good, and these are
the things that should command priority attention in our lives....
"Some uses of individual and family time are better, and others are best. We have to forego some good things in order to choose others that are better or best because they develop faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and strengthen our families."
"Some uses of individual and family time are better, and others are best. We have to forego some good things in order to choose others that are better or best because they develop faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and strengthen our families."
