Does "Love at Home" Always Mean "Peace at Home"?

In the hymn "Love at Home," there are some lines that are questionable: "Peace and plenty here abide..." "Roses bloom beneath our feet..." "Making life a bliss complete..." But life is rarely that simple. But maybe there's a reason it's hard to keep "bliss complete."

A comedian's bit once included the joke, "Being a parent is easy, as long as you don't care how your kids turn out." But when you do care, things get tough. You have the responsibility to help your kids become good people (as much as you can--they have their own agency). But underlying that responsibility should be love. Then, after the conflicts and the hard conversations, you can return to a place where "roses bloom beneath your feet."

A Careful Boy I want to Be

I recently heard a story about, "Please." In the story, one boy is extremely rude while his older brother is extremely polite. What ends up changing the younger brother's attitude is the example his older brother set. When the younger brother sees how polite his older brother is, he thinks "Hmm... I wonder what it would be like to be like that?" And then he changes.
The examples we set for our families are so important.
I love this poem:

A careful boy I want to be;

a little brother follows me.

I do not dare to go astray

for fear he'll go the self-same way

I cannot once escape his eyes;

what e'er he see me do, he tries.

Like me he says he's going to be-

that little brother following me.

He thinks that I am good and fine;

believes in every word of mine.

The bad in me he must not see-

that little brother following me.

I must remember as I go

through summer's sun and winter's snow

I'm building for the years to be

that little brother following me.

Finally, Elder Gene Cook from the Quorum of the Seventy shared the story of his brother's example:

When I was a boy, my family wasn’t very active in the Church. When my older brother, Ron, was turning 12, a man in the ward convinced him to become a deacon. ...When Ron was about 17 and I was about 12, his teacher told him that he needed to gain a testimony of his own. He said to me, “I intend to find out for myself if the Church is true. I’m going to pay any price to know for myself.”
Over the next few weeks, I watched him. I’d find him on his knees praying. I’d see him reading the Book of Mormon. I was amazed at how diligent he was.
... Later ..., Ron told me,  “...I now know for myself that the Church is true. ...Because of what has been happening to me in reading the Book of Mormon. I’ve got my testimony by reading and praying over every page. I know all that we’ve been taught in the Church is correct, and I am going on a mission.” I’d never heard Ron say that before. It was evident to me, even as a young boy, that he had really been impacted by something.
After Ron left me alone, I thought to myself, “If the Lord would tell my brother, then I’ll bet the Lord would tell me.” So I did what my brother did, reading and praying over every page of the Book of Mormon. Because I was still young, I didn’t understand a lot of the words, but it wasn’t long before I began to feel the Lord speak to me in my heart, telling me it was true. I read the whole book through and ended up with a strong testimony even at age 12. That really helped me through my youth and in preparation for a mission.
I have always been thankful for my good brother, who loved me enough to show me by example how to gain a testimony.

Heavenly Father has told us to "let your light so shine before men." I know that as we fearlessly and boldly testify of the truths we've learned to our family and friends they will be strengthened, and our example can lead them closer to Christ.

The Importance of a Family

So a couple weeks ago, I experienced my most embarrassing moment (no, I'm not going to post it :)). It was pretty bad, but through it I was able to see how important my family was in this way: When I told my mom she was embarrassed with me; when I told my brother he laughed at me; and when I told my dad he shrugged it off because he said it was no big deal. 

While it may seem like my mom's response was the one that normal people hope for, when my brother laughed at me it made me able to laugh at myself. And when my dad shrugged it off it showed me that just because I was embarrassed doesn't mean that the people who witnessed me were embarrassed. But I did need my mom's empathy, because that helped me feel like I wasn't a fool to feel embarrassed. 

I don't think there is any way that just one person could have done all of that for me within the 15 minutes that it did with the three of them. Also, there is no way I would have told any one besides my family about what happened (not even my best friends). I may have been up all night with embarrassment without my family.

And that's just a small experience. What about when tragedy strikes? When a loved one dies, or when your future seems to fall apart? Who should you be able to fall back on? Your family.

So please appreciate your family today. Pres. Thomas S Monson shared an thought he had while in a cemetery: 

 ... I noticed ...a small stone in which was inscribed a name and this poignant verse: “A light from our household is gone; a voice we loved is stilled. A place is vacant in our hearts that never can be filled.”
Don’t wait until that light from your household is gone; don’t wait until that voice you know is stilled before you say, “I love you, Mother; I love you, Father.” Now is the time to think and the time to thank. I trust you will do both. You have a heritage; honor it.

Temple Trip!

A while ago, some friends and I took a trip around Utah, visiting all of the temples. My mom (who was our driver) posted about it here. I'll let her fill in the details, but would like to share some spiritual things that were shared or felt.

Multiple times people expressed that they felt the presence of those we were doing the work for or that of their family.

At the Bountiful Temple we had to wait for around 3 hours for all the other mutual groups. Even after us there were many more people waiting to do ordinances. Even though they were rushing through people, the young man doing the confirmation prayers for us emphasized each prayer differently as if he was doing it for the actual person, rather than doing it proxy. At the time I wondered why he didn't hurry up, but as I was changing I realized that he was able to make the temple ordinances special and feel the peace even when everything else was crazy around him. Other girls with us also commented on it. It was amazing.

Finally, we noticed that there was a profound peace to be felt just on the temple grounds. At the St. George temple we weren't able to go in because they were renovating their baptismal font, so we just relaxed around the grounds. Even though we were occasionally goofy and crazy we mostly just chatted and wandered, visualizing our weddings and talking about the different temples.

I received a stronger testimony of the power that temples have and of the work that happens in them.
Now, in New York, we are an hour and a half away from the closest temple. While this isn't a terrible distance, it's much different from being 15-30 min.s away from two :). I've made it a goal to visit the temple once a week, and to accept the LDS Church's Temple Challenge, which is approximately 1300 names, and I've already done 642!! Almost half way there and a few more months to go :S (I started late, that's my excuse).
The work that happens in temples is the work of God. You can grow so much closer to Him in the temples or even just on the temple grounds. I challenge anyone who reads this to visit an LDS temple sometime this month if it's possible. Even if you can't go inside, just take a moment on the grounds to "be still and know that I am God." He will bring you peace.
Amen.

Happy Families!!

I loved this video recently introduced by the Mormon Channel!!

How can we find happiness in our family?
"'Love one another; as I have loved you' (John 13:34). On this simple phrase hangs the success of every marriage and family. In the light of Christ’s love we see our family’s divine potential. We love them with all our heart, soul, and mind. And as we do, our ordinary family is transformed into an extraordinary one." (Happiness in Family Life; Love)

Really, if you love something aren't you happy when you're around that thing or person?

But now, how do we develop that love?

The answer is different for everyone. Some general things people turn to are service, developing relationships with Heavenly Father (who can then give you lvoe for your family).

The Church has set up a website called "Happiness in Family Life," which has many quotes and resources that teach about the several principles of living in a happy family.

Here is a beautiful example of love in a family:

I know that in my family, we grow closer as we do activities together and especially as we live the gospel. We are able to show love to each other and help each other every day.

My Journey to... FAMILY HISTORY! (stop groaning!)

When the phrase "Family History" crops up, there are usually four responses:
     "(HUGE GROAN!) Not family history AGAIN! That's what grandparents are for!"
     "Family History... yeah, I look through scrapbooks occasionally."
     "What's family history?"
or, if you're in the 5% of the population:
     "FAMILY HISTORY! That's, like, my LIFE!"

I used to be in the first category. I was so tired of hearing people tell me about how fun Family History was.
That is, until I started doing it :).

It all started with indexing. Indexing is the manual transcribing of images of names to a digital record, making it possible to search them.
(If you'd like to try it for yourself, here's a link to help you get started)

I'd do these about once a week (more if there was a Census... especially a typed Census. You'll know what I mean when you do it). Then I kind of trickled off, and stopped doing it.

Recently, my grandparents (how are Family HIstory gurus, my Oma majored in Genealogy),  returned from Germany where they'd been serving a Senior Mission. While there, they started to help a woman do Family History. This woman (we'll call her Sis. Schmidt) had been forced out of her home during the French occupation of Germany, and had lost almost all of her records.
When they started doing her family history, they were able to search for names of people she did remember (ie, parents, grandparents) and because of the indexing people had done, they were able to find many more of her ancestors and distant cousins.

After I graudally stopped indexing, I went for a year or so without doing anything besides listening to the talks and grumbling. But then, a friend showed me how to use the "Descendancy Chart" on familysearch.org . HOLY COW! It was amazing!
It's easy, fast, and a contribution. What more could you want?

Basically, using Descendancy Chart takes one of your ancestors, and shows you their descendants (no, duh :)). Next to the list of names are little icons telling you that this person needs more research, or that their *temple work* has already been done, or that you can request their ordinances.
Here's a video with a more coherent explanation. 

If you'd like to learn more about family history, here's a lesson outline that gives you all sorts of resources: https://www.lds.org/youth/learn/ss/marriage-and-family/history?lang=eng

I know that through my work, I'm continuing the work of salvation. I challenge you to do it to.

** Don't know about temple work? Read at one (or both!) of these sites:
https://www.lds.org/topics/baptisms-for-the-dead?lang=eng
http://www.mormon.org/faq/baptism-for-the-dead

My Mom's Recent Post

This is a beautiful post that my Mom wrote for her blog. 
Please read it, it's wonderful!

Forever Families

One of the most comforting beliefs in the LDS church is that families can live together FOREVER!! If you are sealed in the temple, and stay faithful to each other and to God then you can be together even after you die.

These are a few stories about people who have found comfort, and grown through this belief:

While Catherine and Kimball Herrod and their four young children, ages nine months to seven years, were driving home from a family dinner at their grandparents’ place, a double wheel from a huge semitruck on the opposite side of the freeway suddenly sprang loose, flew across the median, and pounded into the driver’s side of the family van. Kimball, the driver, husband, and father, was severely injured and unconscious. Catherine somehow guided the car to the shoulder and called for emergency help. While she watched the paramedics work on her husband and two older children, she sat in a police car with her two little ones on her lap and prayed vocally, “Heavenly Father, we know that Thou hast the power to heal Kimball if it is Thy will, but if not, we have faith that somehow Thou wilt sustain us through this.” Kimball was life-flighted to the hospital, but he did not make it there alive.

After the children were treated for cuts, bruises, and other minor injuries, dismissed from the hospital, and safely home in bed, Catherine returned to the hospital to say her final earthly good-bye to her husband. As difficult as it was, she declared to her parents, who were with her, “I know that Kimball and I are sealed by our temple covenants, and we will be together again someday.” In the most terrible trial of a young mother’s life, her covenants sustained her.

At the funeral, we were reminded of the power of covenants to sustain us in moments of distress and grief. As we joined in the closing song, we all heard above the crowd the voice of Taylor, the five-year-old son, loudly singing, “Families Can Be Together Forever” (Hymns, no. 300). It was joyous for the congregation to know that a child had been taught of the sealing covenants that would bind him to his father and mother. --Susan B Tanner (former YW's president)

I know that we can live forever with our families. I know that I can be with my little brother again, and remember him, know him, and love him.