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Today I'm assigned to give a talk on family, and since you guys can't make it, I figured I might as well post it on here for you to read if you want. :^)
Good afternoon, brothers and sisters.
I am truly grateful to be able to speak to you this beautiful Sabbath day, and
I pray that the Spirit will be with me as I share my message with you today. I
was asked to speak on family.
While pondering on what to speak
about, I read Sister Mary N Cook’s talk from the October 2007 session of
General Conference, entitled “Strengthen Home and Family”. In her talk, sister
Cook stresses the importance of a line from the Young Women’s Theme: “we will
be prepared to strengthen home and family, make and keep sacred covenants,
receive the ordinances of the temple, and enjoy the blessings of exaltation.”
Sister Cook then goes on to explain that while this is in the Young Women’s
theme, it applies to everyone. We can each do our part to aid the family, be a
peacemaker, and bring the family closer to Christ.
As I was writing this talk, two of my
siblings got into an argument. As it got more and more heated, I struggled to
keep on writing. How was I supposed to write a talk on family when mine was
arguing so much? In desperation, I texted my parents about my predicament, and
my mother sent this back:
“The point isn’t that families
should be perfect. Living in families teaches us.” What a perfect response to
my message! It brought peace of mind, and helped calm me down. As the saying
goes, “we may not have it all together, but together, we have it all”. These
words are so true in regards to families. So many of us may feel pressured to
have the perfect family, or we may compare our situation to others, misguidedly
comparing their strengths to our weaknesses. The reason Heavenly Father put us into
families wasn’t to see who could be the best family, or the strongest family,
or the most attractive family. He gave us our families because He knew we
needed each other to make it through this life. He gave us hard times to make
us stronger and to make the good times that much sweeter.
In regards to strengthening our
families, Sister Cook spoke about how that strengthening can come from you,
individually. Strive to be the peacemaker in the home, strive to help the
family draw closer to Christ through righteous examples, and serve each member
of your family with your whole heart. It doesn’t need to be elaborate, but
small, simple acts of love add up.
Sister Cook also mentioned the
importance of prayers. She posed the question, “who in my family could benefit
most from my personal prayers?” and “what could I do to support and encourage
family prayer?” Praying may seem like a small thing, but by doing it daily with
your family and on your own it will help the Spirit stay in the home. Pray for
your family members; they may need it more than you think.
In the hymn, “Love at Home”, the
second verse reads: “in the cottage there is joy when there’s love at home,
hate and envy ne’er annoy, when there’s love at home.” I have noticed the power
and truth of these words in my own home when we are living in a way that is
harmonious with Christ’s teachings. When we are each genuinely trying to be
loving and kind to one another, the atmosphere within our home changes, and
there is a noticeable Spirit in the home. Habits and sayings that would usually
irritate become less of a bother, and we’re just… Happier! I dearly hope that
each of you has or will experience that peace at some time or another. I know
it’s definitely not easy, but it will pay off temporally and spiritually for
sure.
As I read M. Russell Ballard’s talk
from the October 2005 session of General Conference, “What Matters Most is What
Lasts Longest,” he speaks about how in times of crisis we turn to our families
for strength and for comfort. They are our rock, our foundation, and if we
weren’t blessed with a family, we would have almost no one to turn to in times
of trial.
Some dear friends of ours recently
lost their home in a devastating fire, and while they do not have any of their
temporal pleasures, they have the most important thing: their family. When I
heard of this tragedy, the thought that stood out most in my mind was that
every member of their precious family was safe, and at the end of the day, that’s
all that mattered. Possessions aren’t forever, but family is. How grateful I am
to know that in times of peril, I have the loving arms of my family to turn to,
and how wonderful it is to know that we will be together for eternity, with our
immediate family members in addition to our ancestors.
I would like to bear my testimony of
the blessing of eternal families. I know that even though they may sometimes
frustrate me, I will never be more loved than I am when I’m with my family. I’m
blessed to have wonderful parents who love me and teach me through righteous
examples. I’m grateful to have such sweet siblings who love me and challenge me
to be a better person. I know I have a Heavenly Father who loves me
unconditionally and wants nothing more than for all His children to make it
back home safely. I know that my family will be together forever through
covenants made in the temple, and I truly testify of the peace that comes when
we live in harmony with the Spirit. I say these things in the name of our
Saviour, Jesus Christ, amen.