A Responsibility To Love

In The Family: A Proclamation to the World it states, "Husband and Wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children"

We were not sent to this Earth alone.  The family has been part of the plan since before our birth.  In our pre-mortal life, we were organized into families.  We were taught about the Plan of Salvation, we knew that this plan would allow us to be sealed together as families, and through temple ordinances, we would be able to be with our families forever.  

Satan is constantly fighting against the success of families.  He leads us to believe that getting married and creating a family of our own, will drag us down.  He encourages us to place more value on getting an education, being successful, and gaining wealth.  He tells us that we can't travel and do enjoyable things if we are stuck taking care of children.  He tells us that we are incapable of staying in a relationship with one person for our entire life. When these things don't work to convince us, he moves to the media.  Our children are bombarded with television and movies that show old and out of touch parents.  They show how exciting it can be to never marry, and move from partner to partner, never having to commit to anyone.  Then Satan moves to the government, helping to pass laws that are anti-family and even change the entire definition of the family.

In 1992, President Ezra Taft Benson said, "If we continue with the these trends, we can expect to see more divorce, more emotionally disturbed young people, more depression, and more suicide.".  This was his warning in 1992.  We are seeing these exact problems that he warned of, in our society today.  So how can we help our families and those around us?  Here are some ideas:

*Teach our children the gospel
*Teach our children the Plan of Salvation
*Make your home a loving place that all family members want to be
*Show love to your spouse in front of your children
*Tell and show your children that you love them
*Hold regular Family Home Evening, scripture study, and family prayer together
*Teach your children right from wrong and teach them to follow the commandments
*Make sure your children know that they are loved, wanted, and appreciated
*Spend time with your children working and playing
*Spend time with your spouse, go on dates, strengthen your relationship
*Always show respect to your spouse in front of others as well as in private
*Show your children that you love to be a parent
*Teach them to recognize the Spirit and follow it's promptings

 
One of our family's favorite ways to show our love for each other is to spend time together.  This past summer, my son, Aidan, was in the hospital for 5 weeks to have two different surgeries, halo traction surgery and spinal fusion surgery.  It was hard on our family to spend those 5 weeks apart, as the hospital was 4 hours away, in a different state.  A couple of weeks ago, we were able to travel back to the hospital together and participate in the "Walk for Love", to raise money for the hospital where his surgery was performed.  We were able to stay in a hotel, swim, and participate in the walk.  It was a great opportunity to spend the weekend together, show love and support to Aidan, do some fun activities that we enjoy, and also work hard to raise money to donate to the hospital.  When we are able to spend time together, I can feel the bonds of our family growing stronger.  I want my kids to know that I love and appreciate them, and I think that spending time together helps me to do this.