Saturday, June 11, 2016

Family Is Where It’s At

I have been memorizing ‘The Family – A Proclamation to the World’ for extra credit in my religion class. The difference between reading something and committing to memory the words is a stark contrast. Words your read, and then you let them go until you read them again. When I memorize I need to repeat the words over and over, and then I add the words into sentences and the memorizing becomes personal.
I was memorizing the 3rd paragraph which is
In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshipped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize his or her divine destiny as an heir of eternal life. The divine plan of happiness enable family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. 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.
We are children of God. We came to this earth to gain a physical body. The next part I memorized I knew already, we came her to get a body and return to live with God. Committing it to memory and then repeating it out loud several times the Holy Ghost let me know by reaffirming with his spirit that I am an heir of eternal life if I do what is necessary in my earthly experience to progress towards perfection.  Who are we an heir of? An heir of our Father in Heaven.  Whose whole purpose is “… to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” Mosiah 1:39. Everything He has done has been for our benefit.  
It’s interesting to me that we were part of a family - God’s and our Mother in Heaven- before we came to this earth. The ideal place for us to come to earth is in the same structure we left, a family, with a mom and dad. Our Father also set up a way that we can be with our family in the life after this through sacred ordinances and covenants we make in temples as it says in the proclamation.  

My husband and I began our family in the Manti temple and made those covenants we needed for our family to be a forever family. That's not a guarantee though. On a daily basis we need to keep God's commandments. Thanks goodness for repentance! 



In memorizing the words about the family it brings to me a sense of right, and an ownership of what I’m saying, and what it means. 

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