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BYU-Pathway Worldwide Devotional

“God’s Plan for Us Includes Families”

October 18, 2024
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“God’s Plan for Us Includes Families”

Well, what a delight! I am always inspired by BYU-Pathway Worldwide students. I admire the fact that you’re each doing hard things in order to qualify yourselves for a different kind of life. I’m especially impressed because you’re working so hard toward a life that you cannot now fully see but that you have faith will be even better than the one you now have.

Know that many prayers, including those of my family, and those here at BYU-Pathway join with yours in faith that the future life of your family will be blessed by the work that you’re now doing. I may have more faith in that better future that education can bring than you do, because I knew myself before I went to school and I can see my life now. And, I may not be much, but I’m not what I was. I have come to know that education is a valuable part of the formula for building a great life.

This belief — that a better education will help you have a better life — has a lot of support. William Butler Yeats, who was a Nobel Prize-winning poet, has been widely attributed as having said that “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” And while that quote may not have originated with Yeats (we don’t know for sure), the sentiment is clearly still true.

In fact, this powerful imagery may be an understatement. I would suggest that education isn’t even the filling of a computer hard drive of the mind; it’s a charging of cannons. Education gives you voice and courage and power to defend what is true and what is needed.

Modern research reveals that while education helps in creating a stable future, even more important to the prosperity of your family is the nurturing of a strong family. It seems that when it comes to increased security and happiness a strong family is the rocket and education is the fuel.

I’m always impressed by a news story that I once read of a family enjoying a quiet ride on rented bicycles through the Everglades National Park in Florida when their seven-year-old son, Alexandre, did what many seven-year-olds would do: he sped ahead on his bike, ahead of his mom and dad and two sisters. And as the family, following behind, crested a hill, to their horror, they saw Alexandre ahead lose control of his bicycle and crash into the rail of a wooden bridge, flying over the handlebars, over the rail, into the water below and, suddenly, into the jaws of a wading alligator.

Well, within moments, Dad and Mom had reached the bridge. The dad instantly threw himself over the rail and into the water, grabbing hold of this alligator and began prying his mouth open, trying to release his son. But the alligator was too big and too powerful, and he began rolling them both underwater. But by now, Mom had secured the other children so they were safe up on the bridge, and then she went over the rail.

Well, that alligator may have thought that he had matters under control when it was just him against man and boy, but he had no idea what he was up against when Mom arrived. She began pummeling him with such ferocity that the alligator released Alexandre, kicked free of the dad, took a final snap at the mom, and then disappeared into the safety of the swamp — no doubt hoping that his friends didn’t see what just happened. 1
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See “Boy in Everglades bitten by alligator,” Tampa Bay Times, July 15, 1996, tampabay.com

Well, such is the power of families. God sent us into this world not to be alone but to create families that could endure. He has given us the capacity to form families that are capable of not just fending off the horrors of this world but of thriving in the world to come.

Before our birth into mortality, we lived as an eternal family with a perfect Heavenly Father. Our premortal family consisted of imperfect children (us) with perfect Parents. Now, we are imperfect children here in this world with imperfect mortal parents.

But our Heavenly Father’s plan for us is to learn all we can here and then to return to live with Him to someday become, ourselves, perfect parents with perfect children. That’s the vision. And that miraculous outcome is entirely possible for every one of us through His gospel and through Jesus Christ.

Our Heavenly Father provided us with the model of families because He wants us to be happy and have the support we need to be happy. God’s pattern of finding joy in this life by carefully nurturing our families was first modeled in the Garden of Eden, but it has since been confirmed by science. Modern research continues to demonstrate that people tend to be happier and lead better, more secure lives within families than without.

If you find yourself in a less-than-ideal family situation — and we all do at times — remember that the Lord makes up the difference where the world cannot. By placing our trust and faith in the Lord, we can have success in our careers and in our families. He always provides a way.

An academic article, summarizing vast amounts of research, concludes this, though, that “[children raised in] single-parent families are nearly five times as likely to be poor [to grow up to be poor] as those in married-couple families.” 2 Now, many of you come from heroic single-parent homes, and we celebrate you and your parents. They have loved and nurtured and sacrificed for you. So don’t misunderstand that I would in any way not honor those sacrifices made for you. I never would. But I also want you to think about your future. None of us get to choose all of our circumstances, but when we do, we get to make a choice — and that’s what we are here to do. Let’s make the one that will lead to the greatest eternal joy. Most often that won’t be the easy option.

It makes sense that we’re better off if we’re building our lives surrounded by others committed to building lives together with us. This is especially true at those times when the “alligators” appear in our lives. And they always appear.

The most valuable investment we can make — even more valuable than education (which is saying a lot) — is in strengthening our own families. This means praying often together; it means studying God’s word together, to give us perspective; and it means repenting and forgiving, always.

Prophets have explained the power of family like this: “The family is ordained of God. It is the most important unit in time and in eternity. As part of our Heavenly Father’s plan, we were born into families. He established families to bring us happiness, to help us learn correct principles in a loving atmosphere, and to prepare us for eternal life. Parents have the vital responsibility to help their children prepare to return to Heavenly Father.” 3
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Priesthood,” Gospel Topics, topics.ChurchofJesusChrist.org
President Harold B. Lee, a president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, taught that “The most important of the Lord’s work that you will ever do will be the work you do within the walls of your own home.” 4 To enjoy the fullness of blessings our families can provide, we must be our best selves and repent when we disappoint ourselves and others. And we must put God first in our lives. He loves us. We just have to love Him back. And He explained how to do that. The Savior said simply, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” 5

We show our love for God by being the best parents we can be. He joins with us as we work and build and struggle in this life. His influence can mean everything to us and our families — especially when life’s “alligators” arrive at the doors.

A few weeks ago, I met a bishop and his wife who had tragically just lost their young daughter in an automobile accident. It happened on the Saturday morning of their son’s baptism. The next morning, just a few days before I was talking to them, on that Sunday morning ward members gathered for sacrament meeting, filled with compassion over the loss of this perfect little girl whom they all knew well and loved. No one expected the bishop or his wife to come to church that morning just a few hours after the accident, as they were home mourning this unimaginable loss. But a couple of minutes before the meeting started, the bishop’s family quietly entered the chapel to find their seats. The bishop went to the stand and, following a spiritual prompting that he had had a few hours earlier, he walked past his usual seat and sat down with the priests at the sacrament table. In the middle of that anguished and sleepless dark night of searching for understanding and searching for peace, he’d received an impression of what he must do — that what his family needed most and what would help his ward the most — was to hear their father’s and bishop’s voice pronouncing the words of the sacramental covenant.

And so he knelt with those priests at the appropriate time and spoke to His Father, His Father in Heaven. “O God,” he said, “the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it, that they may eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him and keep his commandments which he has given them; that they may always have his Spirit to be with them. Amen.” 6
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Blessing on the Bread,” Sacrament Prayers, ChurchofJesusChrist.org; see also Doctrine and Covenants 20:77; Moroni 4:3
And then at the appropriate time: “O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this water to the souls of all those who drink of it, that they may do it in remembrance of the blood of thy Son, which was shed for them; that they may witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they do always remember him, that they may have his Spirit to be with them. Amen.” 7
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Blessing on the Water,” Sacrament Prayers, ChurchofJesusChrist.org; see also Doctrine and Covenants 20:79;
Moroni 5:2

This good father and mother testified to me that that promise has been fulfilled. That they did, in fact, to their everlasting comfort, “have his Spirit to be with them.”

It is my prayer that your family and mine will continue to build better lives together through this powerful formula of seeking knowledge, and strengthening our families, and showing our reliance on God and His promises as we learn and keep His commandments and covenants.

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.