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| ©Darrell Wyatt |
Life is busy when you're a parent. There's football practice, color guard practice, basketball practice, activity days, scouts, and mutual. In a couple of days, I'll get to add homework to that list. And all those things are done in the five hours a day that the kids aren't at school or sleeping. Somewhere in there, they want time to play with friends and eat dinner, too.
The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet; they break forth into singing.
Ahhhhh. Millenium, take me away. Isaiah's description of the Millenium (the thousand years after Christ comes again and Satan is bound) is...well, heavenly. Who wouldn't want to be there? The problem is, just wanting isn't enough. We have to take action - do the things that we're supposed to do in order to be included in those who have earned a place with the Savior during this time.
And now behold, I say unto you that the right way is to believe in Christ, and deny him not; and Christ is the Holy One of Israel; wherefore ye must bow down before him, and worship him with all your might, mind, and strength, and your whole soul; and if ye do this ye shall in no wise be cast out.
Nephi understood that it wasn't enough to just believe. We have to worship Him with all our "might, mind, and strength, and your whole soul". I think that my recent brand of "Sunday Mormonism" just won't do. Of course I love the Savior. I worship Him. Just not with all my might, mind and strength, and probably not even my whole soul. It's just that with so much going on, I don't take as much time as I should and devote it to Him. I go to church on Sunday, and I read my scriptures in the morning, but what do I do for all the rest of those hours? Too often, I let the noise of the world crowd out my thoughts. I need to be teaching my kids. I need to be having Family Home Evening.
Nephi, though a prophet and seer, was also a parent.
Nephi, though a prophet and seer, was also a parent.
I have made mention unto my children concerning the judgments of God...
For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children...to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.
"After all we can do". The grace of God is available to all, but we must do before we can receive. Am I doing my part? Am I teaching my kids all they need to know to be prepared?
And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.
As peaceful and wonderful as the Millenium will be, it would be hell without my children. It is my responsibility to make sure that they have the knowledge of Christ and repentance that they will need to get them there. In 2 Nephi, chapter 4, Lehi told his children:
...for behold, I know that if ye are brought up in the way ye should go ye will not depart from it.
I know that if I bring my kids up with a love for the Savior and a knowledge of the difference between right and wrong, they will be able to always have that to fall back on. They may stray. They may make choices that are different that what I would wish for them to make. But they will always have that foundation, if I make sure to give it to them.
It just doesn't seem like there are enough hours in the day to accomplish all of the good things that I need to do. It's nearly impossible to sit down on a Monday night to have Family Home Evening. One kid is a football practice, one at band. My husband sometimes works very late. So what can I do? Although Monday nights are designated Family Home Evening nights, I'm sure that having it on Sunday night would be better than not having it at all. What else can I do? I can talk of Christ in the car on the way to practices. I can rejoice in Him always. I can preach to my children over meal preparation. I can write down my thoughts. There is always a way. There is always time. I must use it, so that I will be able to say that my kids have been brought up in the way they should go. I want to have my children around me during the Millenium. Who really needs all that quiet, anyway?
Believe me, the quiet will come. Too soon and sometimes too much. Sometimes :-)
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