A Priceless Heritage of Hope
What message of hope do we have for our family and friends?
While I was reading my scriptures this morning, some of the words from Henry B. Eyring,( including the heading I used), really got me thinking.
I was visiting this week with a friend who has a 14 year old daughter who is in middle school. She feels like she is over protective, especially compared to some of her peers with sons and daughters. There is a thought pattern among some parents of this age ,"may as well let them do what they want, they are going to do it anyway". My friend doesn't like it but feels pulled to follow the crowd, because she feels no hope for a better solution.
What can we do? The obvious is communicating our feelings openly and discussing what the consequences could be for their choices. But I know if we give them something with roots attached, that they can feel how precious they are to a God in heaven who cares about their choices. God has given all of us a source of hope as we struggle to help those we love . Our Savior's desire is to to bring all of God's children home to Him again. Paraphrasing President Eyrings words,' every faithful parent, grandparent, and great-grandparent shares in that desire'. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are our perfect examples. They make righteousness discernible to us, and we can do the same for our children. They will then let our children see how rewarding the fruits of their choices can be.
There are things we can do early, while our children are young, but it is never too late to start a pattern of seeking out the Lord. Richard and I followed the counsel to have daily scripture study with our children, only 10 minutes, but I have to admit, sometimes it seemed to take 30! :-) Daily family prayer, morning and night and each member took his/her turn to pray out loud. The faith of little ones! And we would bear our own testimony often to our children of the truths we found in following Jesus Christ. When a testimony is born to another individual, the room fills with the Spirit of God. Everyone's heart is touched by it. In Primary years ago, I watched a faithful teacher stuggle to teach her 4 year old class the lesson she had prepared. Busy getting up and down in their chairs, climbing, etc.., she stopped her teaching and began to bear her testimony of Jesus Christ. The children, one by one, stopped and looked at her, then sat in their chairs and one little girl crawled up in her lap and put her arms around her neck. I could not hold back the tears. Children feel the Spirit more than we realize.
This is what I saw at my own fireside with my children. A wonderful opportunity to discuss the things that God has written to His children that will help us get through this life joyfully! It works!
When children are older, the Holy Spirit can bring to their remembrance all these things. This can help them in their choices. "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."
