Sacrament talk from 2.17

I am a Child of God

and he has sent me here

has given me an earthly home 

with parents kind and dear

Lead me, guide me, walk beside me, 

help me find the way

teach me all that I must do

to live with him someday.

This was one of the first lullaby’s that I sang to my babies. I whispered it in their sleeping ears, and I sang it a little louder when they were upset. Now my two older kids sing it to our littlest miss, and nothing makes me happier than to hear their innocent voices singing these words.

In the world we live in, we often hear questions such as: 

“Who am I? Where did I come from? Why am I here? And Where am I going?” 

These questions can very simply be answered with I am a Child of God---

Who am I?....I am a child of God

Where did I come from?..... He has sent me here- we were sent from our Heavenly Fathers presence in the premortal realm here to earth to live in families.

Why am I here? …teach me all that I must do—we are here to learn and be tested.

Where am I going?..... to live with him someday- our goal in this life is to learn and to be with our father again after this life.

Starting from day one, I've been teaching my children who they are by singing this song.

I can’t not tear up just a little bit when I hear the sweet primary children sing- this is such a basic concept that many in the world don’t understand. This understanding of who we are is one of the questions answered by the Plan of Salvation.

This is just one example of a way to teach our children about the Plan of Salvation- how else can we do it? That’s the questions I have been searching for answers to. I have only been a parent for just over 5 years, so I don’t know everything. I know very little actually, and am reminded of that daily on my journey through motherhood.

I’m sure I shared this story in testimony meeting last year, but I want to share it again. For the last five years, David’s parents have been caregivers for their aging parents. We visited often and were able to get closer to each of these grandparents in their final years. Jenna was just a baby when we attended the first funeral, and I was pregnant with Adam when the next one passed. For the years that followed, it was just Grandpa Bud. He was the bonus grandpa, at grandma and grandpa’s house. Jenna was four when he got sick and went to the hospital. We began praying as a family for him. Her immediate prayer was for him to get better, but her dad and I were worried how she would react when he didn’t get better, since that seemed to be the way it was going. We began talking about Grandpa Bud as a young man, and how he used to be a strong fireman, how he was grandpa’s dad. We reminded her about his sweetheart, grandma Madeline, who had passed away a few years earlier. Through our discussions with her, we were comforted. It seemed so simple to her- his body was old and sick, but his spirit was strong and anxious to be with his sweetheart again.

After being on hospice care for a few weeks, we received the call that he had passed. We were sad and were crying as we told our sweet Jenna. She just looked at us and didn't get why we were sad. She seemed almost joyous that he could now run and jump and most importantly be with his sweetheart again. It made us smile. As sad as we were to lose him in this life, our girl reminded us that we would get to see him again. The funeral was a wonderful family reunion, as I’m sure we’ll all be able to experience after our life on earth is done.

Lead me, guide me, walk beside me---- that’s our role as parents…. To lead and guide our children. I think that during this, what could have been, a sad time for me, Jenna held my hand and walked beside me. This experience was a wonderful lesson of the plan of salvation for our family, and one that we still reference often.

David and I both have the opportunity to teach the youth using the new youth curriculum. The new youth curriculum is wonderful. It focuses on teaching the gospel in the same way that the Savior did. The introduction to teacher from the first presidency ends with, “Every worthy latter-day saint can teach the gospel in the Saviors way. As you follow his example, the Holy Ghost will help you know what to do. Your own testimony will grow, you conversion will be deepened and you will be strengthened to meet the challenges of life” This absolutely applies to parents- the holy ghost will help you teach your family.

This month, the focus for youth lessons is The Plan of Salvation- so I feel like I was sort of cheating just a little for this talk, since my personal study for the month has been very focused on the Plan of Salvation, and I've already prepared two lessons on it. I am so very grateful for all the resources we have available for our use- weather if be for home use or church use. Conference talks, church magazines, scriptures, LDS.org, Preach my Gospel, for the strength of the youth… to name a few… These youth lessons are available for all of you and I encourage you to look into them.

The third paragraph of The Family proclamation reads:

 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 their divine destiny as heirs of eternal life. The divine plan of happiness enables 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.

Those few short sentences are so rich with wonderful doctrine- what I want to take from it, and something that our children would surely appreciate, is the phrase: The divine plan of Happiness. I have a testimony that this knowledge of where we came from and where we are going most certainly brings Happiness.

Before we are able to teach our children about this great plan of happiness, we have to know about it. I went about learning about the plan and found a talk given by Elder L Tom Perry simply titled “The Plan of Salvation.” In it he clearly lays it out for us to understand. “ We first heard about the plan of salvation before we were born, in what the scriptures call our first estate (see Abraham 3:26). What occurred in this first estate is dimly understood, but we do know that we lived there as spirits, children of our Heavenly Father, and we made certain steps of advancement to prepare for the opportunity of housing our eternal spirits in earthly bodies. We also know that our Father held a great council to explain the purpose of earth life. We had the opportunity of accepting or rejecting the plan of salvation. It was not forced upon us. The essence of the plan was that man would have an opportunity of working out his own salvation on earth, with God’s help. A leader was selected to teach us how to follow the plan and to redeem us from sin and death. As the Lord explained to Moses, “Behold, my Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me—Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever” (Moses 4:2).

Elder Perry continues to explain the plan of our Savior: "Jesus Christ, our Elder Brother, became the leader in advocating the plan designed by the Father, and we accepted the plan and its conditions. With that choice we earned the right to come to earth and enter our second estate.”

I actually got the chance to also prepare a primary talk for today on the next part of the plan- earth life. I was grateful that primary talks are easily accessibly online… unlike sacrament meeting talks.

Part of her talk for today says, “When we come to earth, we gain bodies, live in families and experience joy as we follow Heavenly Fathers plan for us. We are here to be tested and to prove we can make good choices. The Holy Ghost helps guide us to do what is right while we are away from our heavenly home.”

In our family home evening lessons, we have highlighted that- the purpose of this earth life is to gain a body, and to be tested. We don’t want to fail the test- we want to try our best. We are not left alone either- we have the Holy Ghost, prophets, parents, teachers at church, family and friends that can all help us get back to our heavenly Father. I think we can all benefit for the Primary version now and again.

Back to Elder Perry’s talk where he concludes his thoughts of the plan of happiness:  “Life on earth is of limited duration. There comes a time for all of us when the spirit and the body are separated in death. But because of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, we will all be resurrected, regardless of whether we have accomplished good or evil in this life. Immortality is the gift to every mortal child of our Father in Heaven. Death must be viewed as a portal to a new and better life. Through the glorious resurrection, body and spirit will be reunited. We will have a perfect, immortal body of flesh and bones that will never be subjected to pain or death. But the glory we attain to in the next life will depend on our performance in this life. Only through the gift of the Atonement and our obedience to the gospel can we return and live with God once again.”

There are countless illustrations out there to show the progression of this great plan. We had a rather complex one and our kids loved it. Giving them something to look at made a difference in our family home evening.

Doctrine and Covenants 68:25 reads “And again, inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized, that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents.”

I’m pretty sure that scripture is supposed to be as heavy as it reads- if we don’t teach them, that sin will be upon us. That scriptural direction is very clear- Elder Nelson said, “Not only are parents to cling to the word of the Lord, but they have a divine mandate to teach it to their children”

The family proclamation continues with that by saying, “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.”

So again, how do we teach?

First Presidency has again stressed parental priority. From a letter to the Saints dated Feb 11 1999, I quote: “We call upon parents to devote their best efforts to the teaching and rearing of their children in gospel principles which will keep them close to the Church. The home is the basis of a righteous life, and no other instrumentality can take its place or fulfill its essential functions in carrying forward this God-given responsibility.” This letter is signed by Presidents Gordon B. Hinckley, Thomas S. Monson, and James E. Faust, they also described what parents might do: “We counsel parents and children to give highest priority to family prayer, family home evening, gospel study and instruction, and wholesome family activities. However worthy and appropriate other demands or activities may be, they must not be permitted to displace the divinely appointed duties that only parents and families can adequately perform

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard or been instructed to teach our children in the home. It’s something that I worry that I’m not doing my best at, and I pray for help with.  So far this year we’ve been 100% with FHE. For us that’s a 5-10 min lesson, an activity of the kids choice and a treat. They love it and will often ask throughout the week if it’s FHE night. We pray as a family and are trying our best to teach by example of many other things- attending the temple, personal scripture study, fulfilling our callings..  And of course we can’t teach if we don’t know- we should be doing all we can to learn ourselves, we should be life long gospel scholars.

In the most resent General conference, Elder Bowen told as story about being a young missionary and teaching a family. As him and his companion were teaching about this great plan of happiness, the sister broke down into tears. She had lost a baby years early and was comforted and relived to know that our loving Heavenly Father provided a way for them to be reunited. Great peace came to her and her family and they accepted the gospel with open arms.

We can all be missionaries and share this knowledge with those around us, including our children. By living the gospel, we can show others the great comfort it brings to us. We can share this comfort and peace that the knowledge of this plan brings to us.

By remembering that we are children of god, who has lovingly sent us to earth to learn and grow and that if we follow the spirit, we will have the chance to live with him again.

Elder Quentin L Cook, in an address given in April 2009 said, “A loving Father has provided a comprehensive and compassionate plan for His children “that saves the living, redeems the dead, rescues the damned, and glorifies all who repent.” Even though our journey may be fraught with tribulation, the destination is truly glorious.”

It's not going to be easy, but the reward is GLORIOUS.

To teach our children, we must ourselves know, or at least know where to go for knowledge. Bear testimony to your children and use every chance you have to teach them who they are.

I bear testimony of the truthfulness of these things. I know that my heavenly father loves me. I know that he provided this plan for us to be happy. He’s giving us the knowledge and tools necessary to teach our children and the youth of the church. He wants us to be happy and to return to live with him. It’s my prayer that we can follow the counsel of our loving prophets and do all that we can to ‘lead and guide’ our children back to him. I say these things, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

*I just copied and pasted my notes, so please disregard my spelling errors, missed capitals and what not*