How precious a thing is a baby. How wonderful a thing is a child. What a marvelous thing is a family. Live worthy of becoming a father of whom your wife and children will be proud.
The Lord has ordained that we should marry, that we shall live together in love and peace and harmony, that we shall have children and rear them in His holy ways.
The family circle is the ideal place to demonstrate and learn eternal values, such as the importance of marriage and children, the purpose of life, and the true source of joy. It is also the best place to learn other essential lessons of life, such as kindness, forgiveness, self-control, and the value of education and honest work
I know that many other families are not so happy, but every single mother can teach of the love of a Heavenly Father and the eventual blessings of a temple marriage. You too can do this! Heavenly Father’s plan assures this possibility for everyone. We are all grateful for temple marriage and for the prospective blessings of being sealed as an eternal family. Like my mother, we love to quote Lehi’s promise to his son Jacob that God “shall consecrate thine afflictions for thy gain” (2 Nephi 2:2). That applies to every Latter-day Saint family, complete or currently incomplete. We are a family church.
It is vital that Latter-day Saints do not lose their understanding of the purpose of marriage and the value of children. That is the future for which we strive. “Exaltation is a family affair,” President Nelson has taught us. “Only through the saving ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ can families be exalted.”
The Church of Jesus Christ is sometimes known as a family-centered church. It is! Our relationship to God and the purpose of our mortal life are explained in terms of the family. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the plan of our Heavenly Father for the benefit of His spirit children. We can truly say that the gospel plan was first taught to us in the council of an eternal family, it is implemented through our mortal families, and its intended destiny is to exalt the children of God in eternal families.
The doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints centers on the family. Essential to our doctrine on the family is the temple. The ordinances received there enable us to return as eternal families to the presence of our Heavenly Father.
As a brother, you can have a powerful, positive influence in your sister’s life. Compliment her when she looks especially nice. She may listen to you more than to your parents when you suggest that she wear modest clothing. Simple courtesies like opening the door for her and building her self-esteem will encourage her to find her real worth.
Pivotal to God’s plan is the family. In fact, a purpose of the plan is to exalt the family. The earth was created so that we as premortal spirit children of our Father in Heaven could come to the earth and obtain physical bodies. We are here to be tried and tested. We are here to “choose liberty and eternal life … or to choose captivity and death.” And best of all, we are allowed to fall in love, to be married, and to invite children into our families
Let’s admit, in a fallen world there’s no way to be a perfect spouse, parent, son or daughter, grandchild, mentor, or friend—but a million ways to be a good one.
Of course, we know that God’s will is not always accomplished “in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). Mortal parenthood certainly pales in comparison to God’s ideal. He surely sees that. He must weep over all the sorrows and heartache in family relationships. And yet He has not given up on the family. And He will not, because God has a glorious plan for the eternal destiny of His children. And at the center of that plan is the family.
Jesus Christ is the Strength of Parents, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, General Conference April 2023
Sometimes unwavering commitment to abiding family relationships helps us accomplish hard things. In some cases, community becomes family. A remarkable young woman whose troubled family moved frequently found a loving Church family wherever she was to nurture and give her place. Genetics and family patterns influence but do not determine us....
As you perform temple ordinances for family members, the spirit of Elijah, “a manifestation of the Holy Ghost bearing witness of the divine nature of the family,” will knit the hearts of your fathers, mothers, and children together in love.
Second, let the adventure of family history be intentional and spontaneous. Call your grandmother. Look deeply into the eyes of that new baby. Make time—discover eternity—at each stage of your journey. Learn and acknowledge with gratitude and honesty your family heritage. Celebrate and become the positive and, where needed, humbly do everything possible not to pass on the negative. Let good things begin with you.
The gospel story is a family story—nothing more, nothing less. It begins with heavenly parents, and it ends with children making their way through the sometimes exhilarating, sometimes overwhelming challenges of mortality and back to their heavenly home, having received all of the essential ordinances of eternal exaltation.
That’s the story of our lives. God has given us the outline, but He leaves it up to us to flesh out the details through our choices and faithfulness. There is an extraordinarily happy ending in store for all who desire it. But before we can claim it, we have to become more than just His children—we have to become His disciples.
The Essential Role of Women, Liahona March 2021, M. Russell Ballard
