In the Proclamation to the World, it says, “Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and
care for each other and for their children. “Children are an heritage of the
Lord” (Psalm
127:3). Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and
righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, and to teach
them to love and serve one another, observe the commandments of God, and be
law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives—mothers and
fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these
obligations.”
Each parent is responsible for fulfilling their role
as a father or mother to their children.
Whether it is to lovingly encouraging or to support each other in their
role, it is important that these things are done in a positive way without
fault finding or blame. There is nothing
wrong with the mother initiating FHE or scripture study. When a father sees the importance of this, he
may step up and begin to initiate it himself.
Everyone is at a different place on their “path”, and if we are
understanding to one another and kind to one another when we may not do
everything perfectly, it will go a long way in strengthening the marriage. While it is a part of the husband’s
priesthood duty to lead in scripture study and Family Home Evening, if a wife
complains that the husband isn’t the first to initiate scripture study, she is “casting
the first stone”. She must look
carefully at herself and see if there is anything in her parenting that is not
perfect. We do not need to be perfect,
we just need to be heading in the right direction. Maybe there may be a time in her life where
family scripture study is not as important to her, or she is not finding the time
to do it and the husband can help her out.
Instead of focusing on what each other is doing wrong, let us instead
focus on what we can do better ourselves, always trying to look for the good in
each other and encouraging righteous efforts.
In the
scriptures, we read:
D&C 50:23-26
23 And that which doth not edify is
not of God, and is
darkness.
24 That which is of God is light;
and he that receiveth light,
and continueth in God, receiveth
more light; and that light
groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day.
As parents, we can teach our children from the
scriptures and invite the spirit into our homes. The father and the mother are equally
responsible to bring the light of the gospel into the home.
In Mosiah 4:14-15, it says:
14 And ye will not suffer your
children that they go hungry,
or naked; neither will ye suffer that
they transgress the laws of
God, and fight and quarrel one with
another, and serve the
devil, who is the master of sin, or
who is the evil spirit which
hath been spoken of by our fathers,
he being an enemy to all
righteousness.
15 But ye will teach them to walk
in the ways of truth and
soberness; ye will teach them to love
one another, and to
serve one another.
If we are teaching our children to study the
scriptures, but not teaching them to love and to serve one another, we are “missing
the mark”.
In D&C 93:36-40, it says:
36 The glory of God is intelligence,
or, in other words, light
and truth.
37 Light and truth forsake that
evil one.
38 Every spirit of man was innocent
in the beginning; and
God having redeemed man from the
fall, men became again,
in their infant state, innocent
before God.
39 And that wicked one cometh and
taketh away light and
truth, through disobedience, from
the children of men, and
because of the tradition of their
fathers.
40 But I have commanded you to
bring up your children in
light and truth.
When there is contention between husband and wife,
this drives away any benefit from the spirit that may have otherwise been
accomplished through scripture study. We
should be loving to each other as we fulfill our duty as their parents.
In his talk, “Good, Better, Best”,
Dallin H Oaks says, “The time a
family spends together “eating
meals at home [is] the
strongest predictor of children’s
academic achievement
and psychological adjustment.” Family
mealtimes
have also been shown to be a strong
bulwark against
children’s smoking, drinking, or
using drugs. There is
inspired wisdom in this advice to
parents: What your
children really want for dinner is you.”
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