SEEDS OF ETERNAL LIFE

 

I have a grandson. A beautiful boy. He is only five as I write this. He is the apple of his mother’s eye, and mine for that matter. I never had a son, only daughters. I marvel how well my daughter teaches her children and I wonder if I was as good as that. I passed many things onto my children: beliefs, principles, habits, traditions, teachings, even weaknesses. It delights me to see that some of our family traditions live on in my daughter’s family. My greatest hope is that I have planted seeds of truths of eternity into their hearts.

I have a daughter who is a returned missionary but no longer lives the gospel. I have come to the end of the road with how much I can do for her, and I know she is now in God’s hands. I hope against hope that one day she will be like Enos and remember the teachings of her youth. Enos gives me hope.

 

The Book of Mormon tells us that whilst hunting one day Enos hungered for a remission of his sins. This hunger came from remembering the words which his father often spoke about eternal life (Enos 1:3,4). We speak many words from day to day but none more important than the ones that uplift, inspire and sow seeds of eternal life in the hearts of those we love. Such were the words which Enos heard his father speak: "But behold, I, Jacob, would speak unto you that are pure in heart. Look unto God with firmness of mind, and pray unto him with exceeding faith.........O all ye that are pure in heart, lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God, and feast upon his love; for ye may, if your minds are firm, forever (Jacob 3:1-2).”

 

So Enos prayed like his father advised and received a remission of his sins, hoping that one day he will hear: "Come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared for you in the mansions of my Father" (Enos 1:27). This hope he owed to his father. Is there a greater hope we can have for our children? And is there a greater example we as parents can follow than the example of Jacob, the brother of Nephi, the defender of the faith, the foe of the anti-Christ, Jacob the believer.

 

I give you my patience

That you might follow your path;

I give you my understanding

That you might love you more;

I give you my forgiveness

That you might learn to love;

I give you my tolerance

That you might grow;

I give you my wisdom

That you might have courage;

I give you my all

As I promised I would,

From my heart into yours;

From mother to son

Forever more

Because a heart can give no more.

• Cathryne Allen

(Art: In The Arms of His Love by Greg Olsen)

PRIVILEGE OF PARENTHOOD

 

I have noticed a repeated phrase in the scriptures that denotes parenting to be a curse or a blessing upon children. Through these scriptures the Lord pronounces a curse 'unto the third and fourth generation' of those who disobey Him (Exodus 20:5; Deut. 5:9; D&C 103:26; 105:30; 124:50,52).

I wondered if the Lord would punish the children for the sins of the parents until I noticed something significant. The Old Testament says 'unto the third and fourth generation of them who hate me'. Doctrine & Covenants, however, says 'so long as they repent not and hate me'.

So does God punish children of people who hate Him? President Joseph F. Smith taught in General Conference of October 1912 that the effects of sin are so devastating upon offspring that they reach the third and fourth generation of those who are committing them. In other words, if a person hates God, he will impart that hatred to his children who will impart it to their children and so on for generations to come.

I was conversing with a friend yesterday about the Saviour's growth from 'grace to grace' whilst in mortality through which growth He came to know and understand who He was. She pointed out that surely His mortal parents would have taught Him a great deal towards this knowledge whilst He was young. It made me see what a responsibility they had to teach the Son of God and be an example to Him in their lives and how well they emulated their love for His Father.

Imagine the trust that our Heavenly parents have placed in us by giving us their children to raise in mortality. Imagine the sorrow when some of us teach our children to hate them. And imagine the joy when we teach our children to love them. Let us, who have covenanted to be faithful, honour the trust that is placed in us as parents that we may one day be crowned with honour, immortality and eternal life (D&C 124:55).

You nurtured me and nourished me

In my pre-mortal celestial home

And shaped me as a woman of power and might;

Through your noble womanhood

You sowed in me the seeds of excellence

And instilled in me the godhood path;

I seek to follow in your footsteps;

I seek to receive the offspring of your heart;

From your heart to my heart

From your hands to mine.

• Cathryne Allen

(Art: Mother to Mother by Katie Garner)