Love, Limits, & Latitude

This is a great article in the August 2008 Ensign pg. 60. It is about parenting children and also has a few great FHE ideas. I highly recommend reading it with your spouse.

Where One Goes the Rest Will Follow

Alma 38:5
And now my son, Shiblon, I would that ye should remember, that as much as ye shall put your trust in God even so much ye shall be delivered out of your trials, and your troubles, and your afflictions, and ye shall be lifted up at the last day.



39:4
... Thou shouldst have tended to the ministry wherewith thou wast entrusted.
39:11
... O my son, how great iniquity ye brought upon the Zoramites; for when they saw your conduct they would not believe in my words.
39:12-13
12 And now the Spirit of the Lord doth say unto me: Command thy children to do good, lest they lead away the hearts of many people to destruction; therefore I command you, my son, in the fear of God, that ye refrain from your iniquities;
13 That ye turn to the Lord with all your mind, might, and strength; that ye lead away the hearts of no more to do wickedly; but rather return unto them, and acknowledge your faults and that wrong which ye have done.

It really stinks that you have to learn how to be a parent from your first child. That child is the one that can help to make or break the rest of the kids. If your first kid goes AWOL there is a good chance that many of the following children will follow suit.

I wish there was some sort of gaurentee that all of my children would follow the Lord's teachings and do the right things in this life. But there's not. Many prophets have had rebellious children: Lehi, Alma, Mosiah, Alma, Jacob, Adam. What chance do I have if these guys struggled with it. How on Earth did my parents manage to raise nine children and have them all active in the gospel? Beats me. I think I will read "Love, Limits, & Latitude" from the new Ensign. It's about raising kids and setting boundries. Maybe that article will have some good pointers. Wish me luck.

Child Rearing Guide per Alma

Alma 37

I LOVED this chapter. First of all, it's a chapter where Alma is giving his son Helaman advice. Really good advice. I feel like it is a blueprint to how to raise your children. In 37:6 it says-

6 Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.

Then he goes on to give an example of this and then compares the temporal thing to spiritual things. Here is a list.

Small & Simple things:
Teach your children to hate sin
To Repent
To have Faith in Jesus Christ
To be humble
To be Meek & Lowly in heart
To withstand temptation with their faith
To Never be weary of good works
Teach them to keep the commandments
To Pray for support
To Let the Lord guide your decisions
To Direct your thoughts to the Lord
To Pray to the Lord for support
To Pray to the Lord for guidance
To Pray before bed for protection
To Pray in the morning in thanksgiving
I would add:
Family Home Evening
To work hard
Let them experience consequences for their actions
Spend quality time with them
Delayed Gratification
Self Discipline

Great Thing:
Returning to our Father in Heaven

These are all of the small things that we should be doing to reach our ultimate goal aka the The GREAT Thing which is to return to our Father in Heaven. We may think to ourselves, "Oh, my kids are too young to start learning these things." or "I don't want my kids to have a poor self-esteem so I am not going to teach them to be humble yet." What is this accomplishing? When are you going to start doing it? There is no better time than the present to begin teach kids these things. There is a lot here that I need to start doing and it's nice to get little reminder periodically.

I love reading the scriptures. It has been so fun to dive in and do this blog. I love this gospel and our Heavenly Father. I am so grateful for this in my life. I know that I would not be happy and progressing in my life without the teachings of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Pray and Have Charity

Alma 33-34
I highly recommend reading these two chapters. I'm not even going to tell you anything about them other than to pray often and to have charity for others.

Plant Your Seed

Alma 32
From 32:28-43 this chapter talks about faith being like a seed. Looking for some sign to prove to us that the church is true is not how we gain a testimony. We need to plant the seed of faith in our hearts and nurture it.

28 Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves—It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me.

I have been so grateful to have this blog to motivate me to read my scriptures everyday. I feel like this is the first time in a long time that I can feel that I am making some real strides in my spiritual growth. I feel like I am experiencing the highlighted part in 28. I feel like my soul is beginning to enlarge, my understanding is more enlightened and the scriptures are becoming delicious to me. I have always had faith in the gospel, it's just nice to feel like I am gaining some ground.

Family Home Evening

What Parents Have Learned from Family Home Evening July 2008 Ensign Pg. 34

This is a great article to read if you need some ideas how to get your kids more involved in Family Home Evenings. Here are some of the highlights:

1. During opening prayer ask that the spirit will touch the hearts of your children.

2. Have your children help prepare some of the lessons.

3. Using Preach My Gospel to teach your kids, especially if they are to be baptised soon.

4. If a person from your family is away during FHE get them on speaker phone so they can participate.

5. Spend one family night a month with grandparents or other family being sure to include lesson, music, prayer, & treats.

6. Bring discussion and questions into your lessons.

Thomas S. Monson

"I begin with Family Home Evening. We cannot afford to neglect this heaven inspired program. It can bring spiritual growth to each member of the family, helping him or her to withstand the temptations which are everywhere. The lessons learned in the home are those that last the longest."

Count your Blessings

Alma 26:2
And now , I ask, what great blessings has He bestowed upon us? Can ye tell?

I think that it is so easy to forget the blessings that the Lord has given us, especially when everything seems to go wrong. Ammon and his brethren experienced all kinds of hardship while they were teaching the Lamanites. Imprisonment, watching people die, hunger, thirst, persecution just to name a few. Yet in this chapter Ammon spends the entire time saying how blessed they have been. This is an example that I think everyone can benifit from.