Spiritual, developmental, academic, and many other areas in their life we are very influential and powerful. I can't imagine how hard it is going to be to allow my children to start making choices, and living with the consequences of those choices, when they are older. We need to be powerful enough to hold back our judgements and disapproval on actions and choices we may not pick for ourselves. We need to be influential enough to help them make the right choices now, so that when they get older, they won't have such a hard time making the choices for themselves. We need to be powerful enough to encourage, support, honor and love unconditionally.
Parenting is a divine gift from God. It comes with it's rewards, privileges and perks. It also comes with disappointment, heartbreak, and late nights. I feel honored to be able to have children. I also feel grateful to a Heavenly Father that trusts in me to love, protect, honor, lead, guide, teach, and enlighten the spirits chosen for my family.
I visit taught with one of my sisters lately. We talked about how the gospel of Jesus Christ teaches the eternal potential of the children of God. President John Taylor was quoted as saying, "our main object is eternal lives and exaltations; our main object is to prepare ourselves, our posterity and our progenitors for thrones, principalities and powers in the eternal worlds...; that...they might be prepared, having fulfilled the measure of our creation on the earth, to associate with intelligences that exist in the eternal worlds; be admitted again to the presence of our Father, whence we came, and participate in those eternal realities which mankind, without revelation, know nothing about.
Ladies and gentleman. It is that simple. Put it on a post-it where you can read it. Our whole purpose on earth is spelled out quite succinctly in that quote. We now know the responsibilities we have to ourselves, and to our children, and to the generations that come after us. We can and do make a difference. It doesn't matter what you make for dinner tonight. It doesn't matter what you wear or what you look like. It doesn't matter if your floors (or nails) are dirty. It doesn't matter what is coming on during Prime Time tonight. If it doesn't help you meet this goal, then it really isn't important. All are part of the grand scheme of life, but none should be above our main objective. Our minds should be turned to this thought often. Perspective.
1 comment:
I think the greatest gift we can give our children is the confidence that they are children of God and that He loves them, always. "You are a daughter of God!" Sometimes I want to scream it at my kids, but mostly I use it to encourage them to stand up for themselves and realize that not everything that is said to them is important. Thanks for these thoughts on the importance of parenting.
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