Elder Hales addresses a question we should all ask ourselves.\u00a0 What is my duty to God in relation to the youth?<\/p>\n
Example is the single best teaching method known to mankind.\u00a0 If you aren\u2019t a positive example, then you are a negative example.\u00a0 Even when you say the right thing, your example shows through with your actions.\u00a0 The world, lead by a warring enemy, is full of bad examples, or even acceptable examples that can still take you off course.\u00a0 The Lord has shown us the Way.<\/p>\n
I remember sitting in a Relief Society class where we were discussing Agency.\u00a0 Someone mentioned the huge gray area in which we live and the entire class jumped in saying, Yea, Yea!\u00a0 They all agreed \u00a0the gray area made choosing hard because there were so many good choices.\u00a0 It was all I could do to hold myself on my seat!\u00a0 Sisters\u2014there is NO gray area!!\u00a0 Please understand this!!!\u00a0 The gray area is the mist of darkness that obscures your path.\u00a0 Our duty as parents is to teach our children we live in a black and white world:\u00a0 Good and Evil, Virtue and Vice, Love and Anger, One, or the other.\u00a0 There are only two masters and our actions prove who we choose.<\/p>\n
The world will pull our children out of our enveloping arms, if we don\u2019t fulfill our duty.\u00a0 Elder Hales tells us to capitalize on teaching moments.\u00a0 You just never know when those can come up, but you can bet they won\u2019t happen if you\u2019re gone from the home, or tired and screaming, or you haven\u2019t hugged your son recently, or told your daughter you loved her.\u00a0 Keep the relationship with your children strong, so you will see, and be ready, for those teaching moments.<\/p>\n
One of Satan\u2019s best tricks is to show a false, but very convincing, interest in people.\u00a0 All people want to feel loved, valued, listened to, and appreciated.\u00a0 Satan can be very good at appearing that way, at first.\u00a0 Parents need to show love unfeigned, and unconditionally.\u00a0 They need to put their children\u2019s interests above their own.<\/p>\n
My daughter has been trying to put together a Joy School.\u00a0 It\u2019s been a few years since the last group was functioning, as the children grew up.\u00a0 In those off years, some parents have chosen to put their children in a preschool, which meets more regularly and for longer hours.\u00a0 The moms are relishing their freedom and don\u2019t want to go \u201cbackwards\u201d with a time consuming neighborhood school anymore.\u00a0 Is this the path we want to take as mothers?\u00a0 Anxiously passing our children off for others to teach and influence at so early an age?\u00a0 On the other hand, can it hurt to help our children socialize?\u00a0 It\u2019s hard work being a mother and every mother deserves some time off, right?<\/p>\n
Mothers, commit yourselves to the long-haul.\u00a0 Be the teacher, the influence, and the guide to your children for as long as you possibly can.\u00a0 The world lies in wait for your children.\u00a0 Don\u2019t give them up too early, because as sure as I\u2019m breathing, you will not see the consequences until it is too late.\u00a0 And even then, you will find it difficult to admit where things went wrong.<\/p>\n
In his talk, Elder Hales reminds us of the families of King Benjamin\u2019s day.\u00a0 All those parents who set their tents toward the temple and heard the words of their great king and prophet apparently did not teach those golden words to their children, because \u201cthey did not believe\u2026and their hearts were hardened\u201d.\u00a0 (Mosiah 26:1,3)\u00a0 \u201cTo truly choose the Lord\u2019s way, they must know His way.\u00a0 And to truly know His way, we must teach and lead them to act, to participate; to do.\u201d\u00a0 Elder Hales makes things look pretty black and white for us.<\/p>\n
Elder Hales tells us to create opportunities to look into our children\u2019s eyes and tell them that we love them and that Heavenly Father loves them.\u00a0 We can remind them who they are and how fortunate they are to have come to earth, to our home, to have knowledge of the gospel, and to participate in the covenants of the temple, and to be a family forever.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe greatest missionary work we will ever do will be in our homes.\u00a0 Our children and grandchildren are our investigators. The greatest family history work that we will do will be within our own homes.\u00a0 We must preserve our generations.\u00a0 The greatest rescue, the greatest activation will be in our homes.\u00a0 Extend an invitation to come home to our children.\u00a0 The greatest faith we have will be within our homes as we remain strong in the trials and tribulations of parenthood.\u201d<\/p>\n
In closing, Elder Hales quotes Joseph Smith.\u00a0 \u201cThere is much which lieth in futurity.\u201d\u00a0 All we do for our children is for their future.\u00a0 We must stay by them for ALL of the years we have them.\u00a0 Heavenly Father is with us long term, for he sees the eternities where He longs to welcome us with loving arms opened wide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Elder Hales addresses a question we should all ask ourselves.\u00a0 What is my duty to God in relation to the youth? Example is the single best teaching method known to mankind.\u00a0 If you aren\u2019t a positive example, then you are a negative example.\u00a0 Even when you say the right thing, your example shows through with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[366],"class_list":["post-2017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conference-talks","tag-duty"],"yoast_head":"\n