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| Take Especial Care of Your Family |
Instructively, after the resurrected Jesus taught the Nephites, He said, “Go ye unto your homes, and ponder upon the things which I have said,” and pray and prepare “for the morrow” 3 Ne. 17:3 Jesus did not say go to your civic clubs, town meetings, or even stake centers!
Attending to all family duties includes really teaching our children “to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God” D&C 68:25 What a different view of parenting from that of the world. Marie Winn lamented in Children without Childhood how there is an emerging but unjustified tendency to treat children as if they have the capacity for unrestricted adult experience. [See Marie Winn, Children without Childhood (New York: Penguin, 1983), p. 5.] Brothers and sisters, we may not be able to change such trends, but we can refuse to be a part of them.
When parents fail to transmit testimony and theology along with decency, those families are only one generation from serious spiritual decline, having lost their savor. The law of the harvest is nowhere more in evidence and nowhere more relentless than in family gardens!
In addition to our having loving family “sociality,” which, one day, will be “coupled with eternal glory,” we stress again and again the available remedies of family prayers, family home evenings, and family scripture study D&C 130:2 Moreover, personal revelation regarding parenting can provide customized guidance and reassurance!
Applying basic remedies will take some time and will not fix everything immediately.