Lesson For June 19th, 2011 Is : "Chapter 36: The Family Can Be Eternal," Gospel Principles, (2009)

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The Importance of Families

• • Why did our Heavenly Father send us to earth as members of families?
  

“Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God. … The family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children” (“The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” Ensign, Nov. 1995, 102).

After Heavenly Father brought Adam and Eve together in marriage, He commanded them to have children (see Genesis 1:28). He has revealed that one of the purposes of marriage is to provide mortal bodies for His spirit children. Parents are partners with our Heavenly Father. He wants each of His spirit children to receive a physical body and to experience earth life. When a man and a woman bring children into this world, they help our Heavenly Father carry out His plan.

Every new child should be welcomed into the family with gladness. Each is a child of God. We should take time to enjoy our children, to play with them, and to teach them.

President David O. McKay said, “With all my heart I believe that the best place to prepare for … eternal life is in the home” (“Blueprint for Family Living,” Improvement Era, Apr. 1963, 252). At home, with our families, we can learn self-control, sacrifice, loyalty, and the value of work. We can learn to love, to share, and to serve one another.

Fathers and mothers are responsible to teach their children about Heavenly Father. They should show by example that they love Him because they keep His commandments. Parents should also teach their children to pray and to obey the commandments (see Proverbs 22:6).

• • Why is the home the best place to prepare for eternal life?
  
• • How can we help the youth of the Church understand the sacredness of the family and the marriage covenant?
  

The Eternal Family

Families can be together forever. To enjoy this blessing we must be married in the temple. When people are married outside the temple, the marriage ends when one of the partners dies. When we are married in the temple by the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood, we are married for time and eternity. If we keep our covenants with the Lord, our families will be united eternally as husband, wife, and children. Death cannot separate us.

Loving Family Relationships

• • How can we develop greater harmony in our homes?
  

Husbands and wives should be thoughtful and kind to each other. They should never do or say anything to hurt each other’s feelings. They should also try to do everything possible to make each other happy.

As parents come to know God and strive to be like Him, they will teach children to love one another. In the Book of Mormon, King Benjamin explained:

“Ye will not suffer your children … [to] fight and quarrel one with another. …

“But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another” (Mosiah 4:14–15).

As family members we can help each other feel confident by giving encouragement and sincere praise. Each child should feel important. Parents need to show they are interested in what their children do and express love and concern for their children. Children should likewise show their love for their parents. They should be obedient and try to live the kind of life that will bring honor to their parents and to their family name.

• • What can parents do to encourage their sons and daughters to be good friends with one another? What can brothers and sisters do to nurture their friendship with one another?
  
• • What can husbands and wives do to help each other be happy?
  

How to Have a Successful Family

• • What are you doing to help strengthen your family and make it successful?
  

President Harold B. Lee taught, “The most important of the Lord’s work you will ever do will be within the walls of your own homes” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Harold B. Lee [2000], 134).

Satan knows how important families are to our Heavenly Father’s plan. He seeks to destroy them by keeping us from drawing near to the Lord. He will tempt us to do things that will draw our families apart.

The First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles declared, “Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities” (Ensign, Nov. 1995, 102).

All of us want to have happy, successful families. The following things will help us achieve this:

1. 1. Have family prayer every night and morning (see 3 Nephi 18:21). Pray together as husband and wife.
   
2. 2. Teach children the gospel every week in family home evening.
   
3. 3. Study the scriptures regularly as a family.
   
4. 4. Do things together as a family, such as work projects, outings, and decision making.
   
5. 5. Learn to be kind, patient, long-suffering, and charitable (see Moroni 7:45–48).
   
6. 6. Attend Church meetings regularly (see D&C 59:9–10).
   
7. 7. Follow the counsel of the Lord in D&C 88:119: “Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God.”
   
8. 8. Keep a family history, perform temple work together, and receive the sealing ordinances of the temple.
   

The family is the most important unit in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Church exists to help families gain eternal blessings and exaltation. The organizations and programs within the Church are designed to strengthen us individually and help us live as families forever.

• • What can families do to work through difficult times?
  
• • What evidence have you seen that efforts such as family prayer, family scripture study, family councils, family meal times, and family home evening make a difference?
  

Additional Scriptures and Other Sources

• • Moses 2:27–28 (man and woman created and blessed)
  
• • Genesis 2:24 (man to cleave unto his wife)
  
• • D&C 49:15–16 (God ordained marriage)
  
• • Ephesians 6:4 (train children in righteousness)
  
• • D&C 132:15–21 (eternal marriage)
  
• • D&C 88:119–26 (instructions for a successful family)
  
• • D&C 93:40–50 (the Lord commands parents to bring up their children in light and truth)
  
• • “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” (available on LDS.org and in many Church publications, including Ensign, Nov. 1995, page 102; For the Strength of Youth: Fulfilling Our Duty to God [item number 36550], page 44; and True to the Faith: A Gospel Reference [item number 36863], pages 59–61)
  

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First Presidency Message For June (A little tardy)

First Presidency Message

The Blessings of Tithing

By President Henry B. Eyring

First Counselor in the First Presidency

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God’s purpose in giving us commandments is to bless us. He wants to give us eternal life, the greatest of all His gifts (see D&C 14:7). To receive the gift of living with Him forever in families in the celestial kingdom, we must be able to live the laws of that kingdom (see D&C 88:22).

He has given us commandments in this life to help us develop that capacity. The law of tithing is one of those preparatory commandments. The law is that we give to the Lord one-tenth of all our income. It is simple enough that even a child can understand it. I have seen children hand a bishop a tithing envelope that contains one-tenth of the coins they earned.

One of the blessings that comes from paying a full tithing is developing faith to live an even higher law. To live in the celestial kingdom, we must live the law of consecration. There we must be able to feel that all we are and all we have belong to God.

There are at least three ways that paying a full tithe in this life prepares us to feel what we need to feel to receive the gift of eternal life.

First, when we pay our tithes to the Church, our Heavenly Father pours out blessings upon us. Anyone who has consistently paid a full tithe knows that is true. The blessings are sometimes spiritual and sometimes temporal. They are given in the Lord’s time and according to what He knows is best for us.

As those blessings come, our faith is increased that God is the source of everything that is good in our lives. It becomes easier to see that consecration simply recognizes the truth that all of God’s creations are His. It makes us feel gratitude that He asks only 10 percent of what He has already given us. So we are better prepared to live the law of consecration when it will be asked of us.

Second, all of us who have paid a consistent full tithe feel greater confidence in asking God for what we and our families need. He has promised blessings even greater than we can receive when we have been faithful to our covenant to pay our tithes (see Malachi 3:10). So one of the great blessings of tithing is confidence in what the future holds. Whatever our circumstances may be, things will work out for the best. As we keep our promises, He will keep His. A feeling of peace is one of the great blessings of paying a full tithe. Those who have kept the commandment of tithing can testify that the blessing of peace is real and precious.

Third, those who pay tithing feel an increase in their love of God and of all God’s children. That increase of love comes from understanding how the Father uses the tithes we offer to bless people in this world and for eternity.

Through His authorized servants, He expends the tithes with great care. The tithe payer helps the Lord build temples, where families can be sealed forever. The tithe payer helps Him send the gospel to people everywhere. The tithe payer helps Him relieve hunger and suffering in His own way through His servants. Any of those servants can tell you how love increased because tithing was used to bless people. And so can the faithful tithe payer.

Tithing settlement is months in the future. I pray that you and your family will begin now to plan and prepare to qualify for the blessings that God pours out on all those who can declare to Him that they are full-tithe payers.

Teaching from This Message

• • Sometimes the best way to teach a certain principle is to demonstrate it (see Teaching, No Greater Call [1999], 164). Consider asking a family member to demonstrate what one-tenth represents. He or she could demonstrate it by separating one item from a group of 10 items. To conclude, consider inviting a family member to show how to fill out a tithing slip.
  
• • “Those you teach will benefit from each other’s participation” (Teaching, No Greater Call, 63). Invite family members to share what they believe President Eyring means by the statement “feel what we need to feel to receive the gift of eternal life.” Consider discussing the three ways in which paying tithing prepares us to feel what we need to feel to receive God’s blessings.
  

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400th Anniversary Of The King James Version Of The Bible

 

“It is not by chance or coincidence that we have the Bible today,” says Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He explains that the Bible exists because of the obedience of righteous individuals who followed promptings to record sacred experiences and teachings, as well as the faith and courage of others who later sacrificed much to “protect and preserve” the Bible. Credit is also due, he says, to men such as John Wycliffe, William Tyndale, and Johannes Gutenberg, who translated and published the Bible in languages that ordinary people could understand and read. “I believe even the scholars of King James had spiritual promptings in their translation work,” he says.

Knowing the Scriptures

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Read messages about the scriptures that today’s prophets and apostles have given during general conference.

• “The Blessing of Scripture,” Elder D. Todd Christofferson
• “‘My Words . . . Never Cease,’” Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
• “Scriptural Witnesses,” Elder Russell M. Nelson
• “Holy Scriptures: The Power of God unto Our Salvation,” Elder Robert D. Hales

 

May 2, 2011, marks the 400th anniversary of the first publication of the King James Version of the Bible. Throughout the world, people of many religious and nonreligious backgrounds are already commemorating the publication of the Bible with symposia, celebrations, concerts, speaking competitions, and more. Members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles suggest another way to mark the occasion: by developing a love for the Bible as we study the life and ministry of the Savior and the words of the ancient prophets and apostles.

“How grateful we should be for the Holy Bible,” Elder Ballard says. “I love the Bible, its teachings, its lessons, and its spirit. . . . I love the perspective and peace that come from reading the Bible.”

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles agrees. “We love and revere the Bible,” he says. “It is always identified first in our canon, our ‘standard works.’” He reminds us that the Restoration came about because Joseph Smith studied the Bible and exerted faith in the promise made in James 1:5 that God will answer our prayers.

Recalling the events of history that paved the way for the Restoration, Elder Robert D. Hales of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles speaks with gratitude for all who made possible the translation and publishing of the Bible. Because of their work, the King James Version of the Bible was available for anyone to read—and because it was available to young Joseph Smith, the true Church was restored to the earth. “Is it any wonder that the King James Version is the approved English Bible of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today?” Elder Hales asks.

“We must ever remember the countless martyrs who knew of [the Bible’s] power and who gave their lives that we may be able to find within its words the eternal happiness and the peace of our Heavenly Father’s kingdom,” Elder Ballard says.

President Boyd K. Packer, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, shares a story about viewing a centuries-old family Bible and finding a quote on the title page that said, “The fairest Impression of the Bible is to have it well printed on the Reader’s heart.” He follows with this scripture (2 Cor. 3:2-3): “Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in the tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart.”

The best way for us to honor and remember those whose sacrifices not only allow us to read the Bible in our language, but also to enjoy the blessings of the Restoration of the gospel, is for us to know the Bible and its accompanying scriptural texts. By knowing and loving its teachings, we show our appreciation.

“Consider the magnitude of our blessing to have the Holy Bible and some 900 additional pages of scripture,” says Elder D. Todd Christofferson. “May we feast continuously on the words of Christ that will tell us all things we should do.”

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The Bible and the Book of Mormon

As separate testaments of Jesus Christ, the Bible and the Book of Mormon support rather than supplant each other. Elder Russell M. Nelson explains, “Scriptural witnesses authenticate each other. This concept was explained long ago when a prophet wrote that the Book of Mormon was ‘written for the intent that ye may believe [the Bible]; and if ye believe [the Bible] ye will believe [the Book of Mormon] also.’ Each book refers to the other. Each book stands as evidence that God lives and speaks to His children by revelation to His prophets.”

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Desire

 Dallin H. Oaks

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

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To achieve our eternal destiny, we will desire and work for the qualities required to become an eternal being.

I have chosen to talk about the importance of desire. I hope each of us will search our hearts to determine what we really desire and how we rank our most important desires.

Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions. The desires we act on determine our changing, our achieving, and our becoming.

First I speak of some common desires. As mortal beings we have some basic physical needs. Desires to satisfy these needs compel our choices and determine our actions. Three examples will demonstrate how we sometimes override these desires with other desires that we consider more important.

First, food. We have a basic need for food, but for a time that desire can be overridden by a stronger desire to fast.

Second, shelter. As a 12-year-old boy I resisted a desire for shelter because of my greater desire to fulfill a Boy Scout requirement to spend a night in the woods. I was one of several boys who left comfortable tents and found a way to construct a shelter and make a primitive bed from the natural materials we could find.

Third, sleep. Even this basic desire can be temporarily overridden by an even more important desire. As a young soldier in the Utah National Guard, I learned an example of this from a combat-seasoned officer.

In the early months of the Korean War, a Richfield Utah National Guard field artillery battery was called into active service. This battery, commanded by Captain Ray Cox, consisted of about 40 Mormon men. After additional training and reinforcement by reservists from elsewhere, they were sent to Korea, where they experienced some of the fiercest combat of that war. In one battle they had to repel a direct assault by hundreds of enemy infantry, the kind of attack that overran and destroyed other field artillery batteries.

What does this have to do with overcoming the desire for sleep? During one critical night, when enemy infantry had poured through the front lines and into the rear areas occupied by the artillery, the captain had the field telephone lines wired into his tent and ordered his numerous perimeter guards to phone him personally each hour on the hour all night long. This kept the guards awake, but it also meant that Captain Cox had scores of interruptions to his sleep. “How could you do that?” I asked him. His answer shows the power of an overriding desire.

“I knew that if we ever got home, I would be meeting the parents of those boys on the streets in our small town, and I didn’t want to face any of them if their son didn’t make it home because of anything I failed to do as his commander.” ¹

 

What an example of the power of an overriding desire on priorities and on actions! What a powerful example for all of us who are responsible for the welfare of others—parents, Church leaders, and teachers!

As a conclusion to that illustration, early in the morning following his nearly sleepless night, Captain Cox led his men in a counterattack on the enemy infantry. They took over 800 prisoners and suffered only two wounded. Cox was decorated for bravery, and his battery received a Presidential Unit Citation for its extraordinary heroism. And, like Helaman’s stripling warriors (see Alma 57:25–26), they all made it home. ²

The Book of Mormon contains many teachings on the importance of desire.

After many hours of pleading with the Lord, Enos was told that his sins were forgiven. He then “began to feel a desire for the welfare of [his] brethren” (Enos 1:9). He wrote, “And … after I had prayed and labored with all diligence, the Lord said unto me: I will grant unto thee according to thy desires, because of thy faith” (verse 12). Note the three essentials that preceded the promised blessing: desire, labor, and faith.

In his sermon on faith, Alma teaches that faith can begin with “no more than [a] desire to believe” if we will “let this desire work in [us]” (Alma 32:27).

Another great teaching on desire, especially on what should be our ultimate desire, occurs in the experience of the Lamanite king being taught by the missionary Aaron. When Aaron’s teaching caught his interest, the king asked, “What shall I do that I may be born of God” and “have this eternal life?” (Alma 22:15). Aaron replied, “If thou desirest this thing, … if thou wilt repent of all thy sins, and will bow down before God, and call on his name in faith, believing that ye shall receive, then shalt thou receive the hope which thou desirest” (verse 16).

The king did so and in mighty prayer declared, “I will give away all my sins to know thee … and be saved at the last day” (verse 18). With that commitment and that identification of his ultimate desire, his prayer was answered miraculously.

The prophet Alma had a great desire to cry repentance to all people, but he came to understand that he should not desire the compelling power this would require because, he concluded, “a just God … granteth unto men according to their desire, whether it be unto death or unto life” (Alma 29:4). Similarly, in modern revelation the Lord declares that He “will judge all men according to their works, according to the desire of their hearts” (D&C 137:9).

Are we truly prepared to have our Eternal Judge attach this enormous significance to what we really desire?

Many scriptures speak of what we desire in terms of what we seek. “He that seeketh me early shall find me, and shall not be forsaken” (D&C 88:83). 

“Seek ye earnestly the best gifts” (D&C 46:8). 

“He that diligently seeketh shall find” (1 Nephi 10:19). 

“Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (D&C 88:63).

Readjusting our desires to give highest priority to the things of eternity is not easy. We are all tempted to desire that worldly quartet of property, prominence, pride, and power. We might desire these, but we should not fix them as our highest priorities.

Those whose highest desire is to acquire possessions fall into the trap of materialism. They fail to heed the warning “Seek not after riches nor the vain things of this world” (Alma 39:14; see also Jacob 2:18).

Those who desire prominence or power should follow the example of the valiant Captain Moroni, whose service was not “for power” or for the “honor of the world” (Alma 60:36).

How do we develop desires? Few will have the kind of crisis that motivated Aron Ralston, ³ but his experience provides a valuable lesson about developing desires. While Ralston was hiking in a remote canyon in southern Utah, an 800-pound (360 kg) rock shifted suddenly and trapped his right arm. For five lonely days he struggled to free himself. When he was about to give up and accept death, he had a vision of a three-year-old boy running toward him and being scooped up with his left arm. Understanding this as a vision of his future son and an assurance that he could still live, Ralston summoned the courage and took drastic action to save his life before his strength ran out. He broke the two bones in his trapped right arm and then used the knife in his multitool to cut off that arm. He then summoned the strength to hike five miles (8 km) for help. ⁴  

What an example of the power of an overwhelming desire! When we have a vision of what we can become, our desire and our power to act increase enormously.

Most of us will never face such an extreme crisis, but all of us face potential traps that will prevent progress toward our eternal destiny. If our righteous desires are sufficiently intense, they will motivate us to cut and carve ourselves free from addictions and other sinful pressures and priorities that prevent our eternal progress.

We should remember that righteous desires cannot be superficial, impulsive, or temporary. They must be heartfelt, unwavering, and permanent. So motivated, we will seek for that condition described by the Prophet Joseph Smith, where we have “overcome the evils of [our lives] and lost every desire for sin.” ⁵ That is a very personal decision. As Elder Neal A. Maxwell said:

“When people are described as ‘having lost their desire for sin,’ it is they, and they only, who deliberately decided to lose those wrong desires by being willing to ‘give away all [their] sins’ in order to know God.”

“Therefore, what we insistently desire, over time, is what we will eventually become and what we will receive in eternity.” ⁶

 

As important as it is to lose every desire for sin, eternal life requires more. To achieve our eternal destiny, we will desire and work for the qualities required to become an eternal being. For example, eternal beings forgive all who have wronged them. They put the welfare of others ahead of themselves. And they love all of God’s children. If this seems too difficult—and surely it is not easy for any of us—then we should begin with a desire for such qualities and call upon our loving Heavenly Father for help with our feelings. The Book of Mormon teaches us that we should “pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that [we] may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ” (Moroni 7:48).

I close with a final example of a desire that should be paramount for all men and women—those who are currently married and those who are single. All should desire and seriously work to secure a marriage for eternity. Those who already have a temple marriage should do all they can to preserve it. Those who are single should desire a temple marriage and exert priority efforts to obtain it. Youth and young singles should resist the politically correct but eternally false concept that discredits the importance of marrying and having children. ⁷

 

Single men, please consider the challenge in this letter written by a single sister. She pleaded for “the righteous daughters of God that are sincerely searching for a worthy helpmeet, yet the men seem to be blinded and confused as to whether or not it is their responsibility to seek out these wonderful, choice daughters of our Heavenly Father and court them and be willing to make and keep sacred covenants in the Lord’s house.” She concluded, “There are many single LDS men here that are happy to go out and have fun, and date and hang out, but have absolutely no desire to ever make any kind of commitment to a woman.” ⁸

 

I am sure that some anxiously seeking young men would want me to add that there are some young women whose desires for a worthy marriage and children rank far below their desires for a career or other mortal distinctions. Both men and women need righteous desires that will lead them to eternal life.

Let us remember that desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions. In addition, it is our actions and our desires that cause us to become something, whether a true friend, a gifted teacher, or one who has qualified for eternal life.

I testify of Jesus Christ, whose love, whose teachings, and whose Atonement make it all possible. I pray that above all else we will desire to become like Him so that one day we can return to His presence to receive the fulness of His joy. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

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Temple Mirrors of Eternity: A Testimony of Family

Brothers & Sisters,

    As sensitive as this issue is, I wish to share with you something that I have never previously spoken of before. It fits with the topic of the lesson that we are scheduled to have on Sunday. As a young boy, twenty one years ago, I was struggling with the loss of my Father's direct influence in my life. My Mother and Father separated sometime between May 1989 and May of 1990. (I was between the age of 7-8). I can vividly remember the old house on "Marvin Street" in Tucson, which we lived after our retreat from California not 6 months after the devastating quake of 1989. 

     As luck would have it, my birthday came in 1990 as it has since May 22nd of 1982. I was so excited, because when I returned from playing at a best friends house, my mother gave me a card which came in the mail, from my Father. I was excited, energized, and full of joy not only because there was money inside of the card, but because of some much desired correspondence with my Dad. It meant the world to me. As life had in the cards for me, little did I know that the next time I would see my Father, I would be 18 years old. During the ten long years after my last birthday card, or even a card of any kind, I grew weak and weary inside. I began to know little about my Dad, and soon found many of the memories I had of him fled me. I missed him dearly in this long time without him in my life. 

     As luck also would have it, my Dad has now returned to Tucson, and become very integrated into the lives of my siblings, and I thank the Lord for that. Though my correspondence with him is still little, it is much more now than it ever has been. 

     I remember the absolute joy I had of watching my beautiful children get sealed to me and my wonderful wife, and though I have not spoken much about it, I hurt even more, deep inside because I was not sealed to my parents ever. I've never known the joy of a son being sealed to his Father, but I do know the joy, of a Father being sealed to his son. I pray one day, that treasured moment will come to pass, but until then, I pray for Him, and I pray for patience..... here is the Lesson:

Dear brothers and sisters, when our son was in the Provo Missionary Training Center, Sister Gong mailed fresh-baked bread to him and his missionary companions. Here are some of the missionary thank-you notes Sister Gong received: “Sister Gong, that bread was a taste of home.” “Sister Gong, all I can say is wow. That bread is the best thing to enter my mouth since my mother’s enchiladas.” But this is my favorite: “Sister Gong, the bread was wonderful.” He then jokingly continued, “Keep me in mind if things don’t work out between you and Mr. Gong.”

We love our missionaries—each elder, sister, and senior couple. We are eternally grateful to that special missionary who first brought the restored gospel of Jesus Christ to our family. I gratefully testify that an eternal perspective of gospel conversion and temple covenants can help us see rich blessings in each generation of our forever families.

The first convert in our Gong family to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is our mother, Jean Gong. As a teenager in Honolulu, Hawaii, she listened; she knew; she was baptized and confirmed; she is continuing in faith. Faithful Church members helped my mother so that she had gospel friends, Church callings, and continued nourishment by God’s good word. In today’s parlance each new convert, young single adult, those returning to Church activity, and others bless generations when they become fellow Saints in the household of God. ¹

 

One family who nurtured my mother was that of Gerrit de Jong Jr. A linguist who loved the language of the heart and Spirit, Grandpa de Jong tickled my little boy imagination by sayings like “Blackberries when red are green.” Today, speaking of electronic handheld devices, I tell young friends, “Blackberries read in Church make green bishops blue.”

My parents, Walter and Jean Gong, were married three times: a Chinese ceremony for family, an American ceremony for friends, and a sacred ceremony in the house of the Lord for time and eternity.

Our Primary children sing: “I love to see the temple. I’m going there someday.” ² Our youth pledge to “receive the ordinances of the temple.” ³

 

I recently stood in a house of the Lord with a worthy couple there to receive blessings by covenant. I invited them to make their first honeymoon last 50 years, then after 50 years to begin their second honeymoon.

I found myself looking with this beautiful couple into the temple mirrors—one mirror on this side, one mirror on that side. Together the temple mirrors reflect back and forth images that stretch seemingly into eternity.

Temple mirrors of eternity remind us that each human being has “divine nature and destiny”; that “sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally”; ⁴ and that, growing together in love and faithfulness, we can give children roots and wings.

In temple mirrors of eternity, I reflected on First Dragon Gong, born a.d. 837 (late Tang dynasty) in southern China and the succeeding Gong family generations to my father, our family’s 32nd recorded generation. My brother, sister, and I are in our family’s 33rd generation; my sons and their cousins, the 34th generation; our grandson, the 35th recorded Gong family generation. In temple mirrors of eternity, I could not see a beginning or end of generations.

I then imagined not only a succession of generations but also a succession of family relationships. In one direction I saw myself as son, grandson, great-grandson, back to First Dragon Gong. In the mirrors in the other direction, I saw myself as father, grandfather, great-grandfather. I could see my wife, Susan, as daughter, granddaughter, great-granddaughter and, in the other direction, as mother, grandmother, great-grandmother.

In temple mirrors of eternity, I began to understand my wife and myself as children of our parents and parents to our children, as grandchildren of our grandparents and grandparents to our grandchildren. Mortality’s great lessons distill upon our souls as we learn and teach in eternal roles, including child and parent, parent and child.

Scripture describes our Savior as “the Father and the Son.” ⁵ Having dwelt in flesh and subjected the flesh to the will of the Father, our Savior knows how to succor us, His people, in our pains, afflictions, temptations, sicknesses, even death. ⁶ Having “descended below all things,” ⁷ our Savior can bear our griefs and carry our sorrows. “He was wounded for our transgressions, … bruised for our iniquities … ; [with our Savior’s] stripes we are healed.” ⁸

 

From the councils in heaven, our Savior sought only to do His Father’s will. This pattern of Father and Son can help explain the paradox “He that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.” ⁹ The world pursues enlightened self-interest. Yet the power is not in us to save ourselves. But it is in Him. Infinite and eternal, ¹⁰ only our Savior’s Atonement transcends time and space to swallow up death, anger, bitterness, unfairness, loneliness, and heartbreak.

Sometimes things go wrong even though we have done our very best. A Lamb innocent and pure, our Savior weeps with and for us. When we always remember Him, ¹¹ He can stand with us “at all times and in all things, and in all places that [we] may be in.” ¹² His “faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death.” ¹³ In drawing us to Him, our Savior also draws us to our Father in Heaven. While some things are imperfect on earth, we can trust our Heavenly Father to complete “redemption’s grand design, where justice, love, and mercy meet in harmony divine!” ¹⁴

 

A miracle of the images we discern in temple mirrors of eternity is that they—we—can change. When Jean and Walter Gong entered the new and everlasting covenant, they opened the way for ancestors (such as First Dragon Gong) to be sealed and for posterity to be born in the covenant. Please remember: as we reach out to each sister or brother, we bless generations.

The world is in commotion, ¹⁵ but in His “only true and living Church,” ¹⁶ there is faith and no fear. In the words of the Apostle Paul, I also solemnly testify:

“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, …

“Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” ¹⁷

 

I humbly witness: God lives. He “shall wipe away all tears from [our] eyes” ¹⁸ —except the tears of joy when we see through temple mirrors of eternity and find ourselves home, pure and clean, our family generations sealed by priesthood authority in love, to shout, “Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna.” In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

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