Lesson 11 Preparation

Lesson 11 is about Family Relationships, which happens to be a very tough area for me to face because my family is not very close and we may never get that way because of past events.

The first thing I read was the The Family: A Proclamation to the World and it says that we were all created in the image of Heavenly Father and whatever gender we were born to be has a purpose and is a divine characteristic of who we are and who we can become. God gave us bodies so we could do all we needed to in mortality not only for ourselves, but also for the families of creation we all will have the opportunity to make and keep with us for eternity should we choose to. God wants male and female to marry those of the opposite sex and wants us to have children and to do so under covenants and the sacred temple ordinances so that we can have our families for eternity! That's not so hard!

God doesn't and will never condone neglect or abuse of the responsibilities that come with being a spouse and a parent. He will also not condone postponing either responsibility for the sake of convenience and comfort. We will ALL stand accountable before God someday, so we had better make the most of the time that we have and live in a way that we can be proud of.

I mean, even in 1995, the world's values were still somewhat aligned with the values of the Lord, but there were certain things that they didn't agree on and God knew that chasm would only grow as the world began to view God as more of a hindrance than a guidance to the progression of man.

I then read an excerpt from Elder Russell M. Nelson’s April 2008 General Conference address entitled, “Salvation and Exaltation," which talked about how there are both family responsibilities out there and also evil forces that would try and dissuade and distract man from taking their responsibilities seriously an how we not only need to be aware of the evil, but fortify ourselves against it by using our agency wisely that we may not be a prisoner to sin.

I then read an excerpt from a talk called "Help them on their way Home," by President Eyring than talked about how we can help those who are struggling spiritually and how we can not only use the Atonement to help ourselves, but we can also bring others to the knowledge of how they are loved and worth preserving through the love that we show them. As we show love, we are showing Christ.

Mormon Message Video: Earthly Father, Heavenly Father

 

Men on earth have the opportunity to become fathers and experience some of the same joys that our Heavenly Father feels for us. Fatherhood is a divine responsibility to be cherished.

"Noble fatherhood gives us a glimpse of the divine," President James E. Faust.

-God and our earthly fathers watch us as we sleep and they work while we live.

-What God provides for us and what earthly fathers provide for us is our world.

-We don't think about how things come to be; we just know they are there.

-We lay in the comfort God provides while He works for us to be happy and He does all for us that we can grow, as we trust Him to help and provide for us. We don't see all that God does, we just trust.

-God is our protector, our gentle friend, our faithful Father. We don't understand how it came to be, but God does. 

"Out of all the titles of respect and honor that are given to deity, He asks us to address Him as Father." - Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

 
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Video, “The Power of the Priesthood in the Family,”

Elder Oaks, Bishop Causse, and Elder Christoffel Golden meet to discuss strengthening the Church and the family through the Priesthood. The Priesthood is at the center of the Plan of Salvation and its power is supposed to strengthen both families and quorums. 

The Priesthood is to be used in the home first - it is a greater responsibility to use it there than outside the home. Family prayer helps begin teach children early on and it is more responsibility of the parent than the Church - they assist, they do not replace. The home is the first place to learn about the gospel through the Priesthood and through a father who lives worthy of the Priesthood, with faith in it, and uses it responsibly. 

In Oct. 1994 Conference, President Hunter talked that fathers should exercise priesthood by performing ordinances in the home and ensure the salvation of their wives and children. A great responsibility for them is to give their ordinances to their children. The father or whoever is a family or friendship role model that has worthiness to use the Priesthood needs to see that his priesthood is used for the benefit of his family or any family who is in need of it.

 Both Melchizedek and Aaronic Priesthood holders have sacred responsibilities to their families and should stay worthy so they can use it to help. Fathers are the patriarch of the home and can give blessings at any time.

Priesthood has the authority to act for the Lord through keys, but power is more than authority and it depends on personal righteousness. 3 Nephi 8:1 says that priesthood holders need to be worthy so they can exercise their priesthood to help those in need of the Lord. There is an essential nature to personal righteousness and obedience to commandments so having priesthood power is possible.

Elder Wilfred Woodruff taught, "The nearer we live to God, the closer we obey His laws and keep his commandments, the more priesthood power we will have."

Priesthood power is the power from God to bless all of His children and it works in both the family and the Church, with blessings of it being for everyone. Men are not the Priesthood, the Priesthood is something they exercise on behalf of the sons and daughters of God. 

The Church strengthens the home so that the priesthood can strengthen all the members of the family. In a clip, President Monson said that the priesthood has the authority to act as God's servants and its authority can reach beyond the veil of death and into the eternities. 

The priesthood is used to bless God's sons and daughters.

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Video: “Blessings of the Priesthood in Every Home,” - the faithful endurance of Mary Fielding Smith, widow of Hyrum Smith.

There is a light from the Spirit from being faithful in all things. Moms can take care of their family as the head of the home if they need to and the Lord will bless them.

Only the home is as sacred as the temple, according to the Bible Dictionary. It is sacred because of the spirit of righteousness that dwells here from righteousness.

"The Lord will open the way, but how he will open the way, no one knew," - Joseph F. Smith, as said by his mother, Mary Fielding Smith.

Being an example of faith makes an impression upon the mind.

Great faith can come from going through the temple and that is possible because of the priesthood, as is receiving help. 

The church opens up the opportunity for families to be together forever through the priesthood authority. God has restored the fullness of the everlasting gospel.

"There can be no genuine happiness separate apart from in the home and every effort made to sanctify and preserve its influence is uplifting to those who toil and sacrifice for its establishment. Men and women often seek to substitute some other life for that of the home. They would make themselves believe that the home means restraint, that the highest liberty is the fullest opportunity to move about at will. There is no happiness without service and there is no service greater than that which converts the home into a divine institution which promotes and preserves family life. "- Joseph F. Smith

I haven't been able to get through these videos without crying a lot. The Spirit is very nice and I feel very comforted by it.

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Video, “Bringing Up Children in Light and Truth.”

-We are all walking a covenant path. Those promises are quite essential.

-Parents are the closest thing to Heavenly Father that children have.

- Elder Packer said, "We sometimes learn more from our children than what we teach them."

-Through children, we come to understand Heavenly Father's love for us.

-Fathers and mothers work together.

The Priesthood in the home is influenced by how women elevate it.

-Single moms can serve as a good priesthood example in the home simply by keeping their covenants and doing all that they can for their children temporally and spiritually. By virtue of her responsibility, single moms can govern in righteousness and teach responsibilities associated with the priesthood and also rely on priesthood examples that are readily available.

D&C 109:8 says we need to organize ourselves as a house after the manner of righteousness and prepare all needful things against the adversary so we can withstand it.

Our houses are the most sacred places on Earth next to temples.

-"The most important teachings in the home are spiritual...,"

The priorities we establish in our home are spiritual.

Helaman 5:12 says to build upon the rock of our Redeemer to withstand both trials and adversarial opposition that may and will come.

As we center our lives around Christ, everything falls into place around us perfectly.

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Video, “Two Brothers Apart.”

"...for if they humble themselves before me and have faith in me, then I will make weak things become strong unto them." Ether 12:27

Follow Luke and Sam over several years as they struggle to understand and connect with each other.

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 I then read a definition on chiasmus and did a worksheet on it.

I finally took the quiz and it was a difficult one, as I got two wrong the first time despite all the note taking I did and all the listening I did. I took it again and got the same two wrong, but this test was very difficult and the answers were very difficult to come by, as multiple options could have been the correct answer. I am proud, however, since I got 17/19, or 89%.

Discussion Board:

I am not yet married, nor do I have any children, but I have learned from the example that my parents taught me through the 27 years that they were married. My dad had jobs here and there and my mom also worked outside the home so that we would be able to survive, as my dad was an alcoholic from the time that my brother and I were little and was often only physically present. The alcoholism created a great strain on my parents' marriage and my mother was often left to parent us alone and as I got older, I knew that I wanted it to be different, but didn't know if that was possible. When I saw examples of families co-existing peacefully and acting like I was taught a family should act, however, I knew it as possible for me to break the cycle of dysfunctionality when I became a parent and spouse.

Although I am not yet married nor a parent to my own children, I am currently in the nursery of the family ward that I am attending and I am not only learning all I can about how to parent the way that Heavenly Father parents us and would want us to parent little ones, I am getting the opportunity to practice those teachings each and every week. Even though my past was not good nor was my past family life, I was still able to learn much from the example of both other families and those who served as surrogate family to me and my family. I hope that when I am actually a spouse and a parent that I can truly break the cycle that made my family unhappy and help to govern a family in peace and safety.