Friends/Family (click on the word to see the For the Strength of Youth article)
FRIENDS-To have good friends, we must be a good friend. Ways to do this include: showing genuine interest in others, smiling, let people know you care, never bullying in any form, acting with kindness and respect, and being friendly to those who are shy or different.
-This is a great video about Bullying. President Uchtdorf encourages us to just 'stop it!'
"Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers." -Ephesians 4:29
-"The Savior taught us to love not only our friends but also those who disagree with us... In the gospel of Jesus Christ, there is no place for ridicule, bullying, or bigotry." -Spiritual Whirlwinds by Elder Neil L. Anderson May 2014. Here is the talk.
-In the talk What Are You Thinking?, Elder W. Craig Zwick emphasizes the devastating consequences of harsh words. He quotes from a First Presidency letter from Jan. 10, 2014 "The gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us to love and treat all people with kindness and civility-even when we disagree."
Elder Zwick later says, "What mattered most was listening to each other and understanding the other's perspective." This is a sure way to be a great friend. When we focus less on ourselves and more on others, we learn to truly love them and be there for them. Here is Elder Zwick's talk.
-Another topic in the Friends section from the For the Strength of Youth is about having the courage to stand alone in order to do what is right.
I LOVE the story in Elder Anderson's talk Spiritual Whirlwinds (linked above) about the Laurel who had the courage to defend her view of marriage between a man and a woman, even though many gave her mean comments. She realized that "Sometimes, as President Monson said, 'You have to stand alone.' Hopefully as youth, we will stand together in being true to God and to the teachings of his living prophets." I love her trust in the Lord.
-Another great message from Elder Anderson's talk is a story about when President Henry B. Eyring was a teenager and moved and made little friends. He read the Book of Mormon so much that it became one of his greatest friends. What a great book to befriend!
-Family members can also become great friends. Here is a great quote from Elder Marvin J. Ashton's talk titled Friends Forever . Here is the link to the talk.
"I sincerely feel that one of the great purposes of family evenings and home teaching is to have family members realize that a brother can be a friend, and that a sister can be a friend, and that a father and a mother can be more than parents, they can be friends.
I would hope and pray that we may catch the wisdom and the inspiration of building a home so that our members in that sacred unit can look upon a father and say, “He is my best friend,” or “My mother is more than a mother, she is my friend.” When we realize that parents and family members can be more than blood relations and are in very deed friends, then we will have a glimpse of how our Heavenly Father wants us to live, not only as brothers and sisters but as very close friends."
-Here is a great quote from President Eyring: First Presidency Message July 2010. Here is the link.
"In the next few days you will have many opportunities to be a friend for Him. It may be as you walk on a dusty road. It may be as you sit down in a railroad car. It may be as you look for a place to sit in a Church congregation. If you are watching, you will see someone carrying a heavy burden. It may be a burden of sorrow or loneliness or resentment. It may be visible to you only if you have prayed for the Spirit to give you eyes to see into hearts and have promised to lift up the hands that hang down.
The answer to your prayer may be the face of an old friend, one you have not seen in years but whose needs suddenly come into your mind and heart and feel as if they are your own. I’ve had that happen to me. Old friends have reached out to me across the miles and the years to offer encouragement when only God could have told them of my burden."
FAMILY
-The Family: A Proclamation to the World
You can find it here
-Our primary is learning the song The Family Is of God, and it is a beautiful song! Here is the song.
-From Spiritual Whirlwinds by Elder Anderson:
"While many governments and well-meaning individuals have redefined marriage, the Lord has not. In the very beginning, God initiated marriage between a man and a woman—Adam and Eve. He designated the purposes of marriage to go far beyond the personal satisfaction and fulfillment of adults to, more importantly, advancing the ideal setting for children to be born, reared, and nurtured. Families are the treasure of heaven."
-We must do our part in the family. Our part as the parent includes (according to President Joseph Fielding Smith in Teachings of the Presidents of the Church Joseph Fielding Smith Chapter 16): Here is the link to this chapter
~ Set a righteous example
~Begin teaching children when they are young
~ Teach children to pray
~Introduce children to the scriptures
~Hold family home evening
~Teach virtue, chastity, and morality
~Prepare children to be witnesses of the truth and to serve missions
~Help children prepare to have eternal families of their own
President Smith also says in this chapter
"Let us try humbly to keep our families intact, to keep them under the influence of the Spirit of the Lord, trained in the principles of the gospel that they may grow up in righteousness and truth. … [Children] are given unto us that we might train them in the ways of life, eternal life, that they might come back again into the presence of God, their Father."
-Parents are not one above the other. Elder Oaks says this in his talk The Keys and Authority of the Priesthood; here is the talk:
"Some years before the family proclamation, President Spencer W. Kimball gave this inspired explanation: “When we speak of marriage as a partnership, let us speak of marriage as a full partnership. We do not want our LDS women to besilent partners or limited partners in that eternal assignment! Please be acontributing and full partner.”
-The Family: A Proclamation to the World
You can find it here
-Our primary is learning the song The Family Is of God, and it is a beautiful song! Here is the song.
1. Our Father has a family. It’s me!
It’s you, all others too: we are His children.
He sent each one of us to earth, through birth,
To live and learn here in fam’lies.
2. A father’s place is to preside, provide,
To love and teach the gospel to his children.
A father leads in fam’ly prayer to share
Their love for Father in Heaven.
3. A mother’s purpose is to care, prepare,
To nurture and to strengthen all her children.
She teaches children to obey, to pray,
To love and serve in the fam’ly.
4. I’ll love and serve my family and be
A good example to each fam’ly member.
And when I am a mom or dad, so glad,
I’ll help my fam’ly remember:
[Chorus]
God gave us families to help us become what He wants us to be—
This is how He shares His love, for the fam’ly is of God.
-From Spiritual Whirlwinds by Elder Anderson:
"While many governments and well-meaning individuals have redefined marriage, the Lord has not. In the very beginning, God initiated marriage between a man and a woman—Adam and Eve. He designated the purposes of marriage to go far beyond the personal satisfaction and fulfillment of adults to, more importantly, advancing the ideal setting for children to be born, reared, and nurtured. Families are the treasure of heaven."
-We must do our part in the family. Our part as the parent includes (according to President Joseph Fielding Smith in Teachings of the Presidents of the Church Joseph Fielding Smith Chapter 16): Here is the link to this chapter
~ Set a righteous example
~Begin teaching children when they are young
~ Teach children to pray
~Introduce children to the scriptures
~Hold family home evening
~Teach virtue, chastity, and morality
~Prepare children to be witnesses of the truth and to serve missions
~Help children prepare to have eternal families of their own
President Smith also says in this chapter
"Let us try humbly to keep our families intact, to keep them under the influence of the Spirit of the Lord, trained in the principles of the gospel that they may grow up in righteousness and truth. … [Children] are given unto us that we might train them in the ways of life, eternal life, that they might come back again into the presence of God, their Father."
-Parents are not one above the other. Elder Oaks says this in his talk The Keys and Authority of the Priesthood; here is the talk:
"Some years before the family proclamation, President Spencer W. Kimball gave this inspired explanation: “When we speak of marriage as a partnership, let us speak of marriage as a full partnership. We do not want our LDS women to besilent partners or limited partners in that eternal assignment! Please be acontributing and full partner.”
-President Packer, in his talk The Witness, talks about the blessings available to those who are single or childless. The blessings are beautiful and I felt comfort from his words. Here is the talk.
"Parenthood is a sacred privilege, and depending upon faithfulness, it can be an eternal blessing. The ultimate end of all activity in the Church is that a man and his wife and their children can be happy at home.
Those who do not marry or those who cannot have children are not excluded from the eternal blessings they seek but which, for now, remain beyond their reach. We do not always know how or when blessings will present themselves, but the promise of eternal increase will not be denied any faithful individual who makes and keeps sacred covenants.
Your secret yearnings and tearful pleadings will touch the heart of both the Father and the Son. You will be given a personal assurance from Them that your life will be full and that no blessing that is essential will be lost to you.
As a servant of the Lord, acting in the office to which I have been ordained, I give those in such circumstances a promise that there will be nothing essential to your salvation and exaltation that shall not in due time rest upon you. Arms now empty will be filled, and hearts now hurting from broken dreams and yearning will be healed."
No comments:
Post a Comment