Judy and I have 39 grandchildren facing puberty, dating, courtship and marriage. We thought 6 daughters and 3 sons passing that way was extraordinary, but 39 - Wow!
When we were growing up, our parents counselled us about appropriate behavior in boy-girl dating. And we followed suit with our children.
Who would have guessed that our children would have to counsel their children about same-sex relationships as well as boy-girl chastity.
Clearly as grandparents Judy and I are seeking the blessings of God in keeping our grandchildren safe in their forward progress towards establishing their own families.
Today at Church the Priesthood discussed the special blessings available to all those who search out the records of their ancestors. When we also facilitate having their temple ordinances completed, they are then sealed and preserved as family for eternity. In class we watched videos and discussed the more recent emphasis on families taking advantage of computer technology within their own homes, and especially involving our tech savvy youth, in family history work.
I recall President A. Theodore Tuttle enumerating the great promises for those engaged in family history research. (April 1980, Eternal Links that Bind)
All who diligently search realize that help comes—often from the other side of the veil. You see, they are organized and working there at least as well as we are here!
He quoted Elder Melvin J. Ballard,
The spirit and influence of your dead will guide those who are interested in finding those records. If there is anywhere on the earth anything concerning them, you will find it
and Elder John Widtsoe,
I have the feeling … that those who give themselves with all their might and main to this work receive help from the other side, and not merely in gathering genealogies. Whoever seeks to help those on the other side receives help in return in all the affairs of life.
We are not so interested in policing internet use as we are in setting our grandchildren on fire in the enterprise of getting acquainted with their forbearers, helping to provide eternal sealing ordinances, and placing this rising generation in a position of “receiving help in all the affairs of life from those on the other side of the veil.”
One grandson at dinner said he’d like to go back in time to meet his many generations of grandparents. It seemed appropriate to assure him that he didn’t have to go back in time, simply peer through the veil and see them as they are now -- fully aware of him and doing all they are permitted in his behalf.
Elder Dallin H. Oaks commented:
When I was young, I thought . . . personal appearances were the only meaning of the ministering of angels. As a young holder of the Aaronic Priesthood, I did not think I would see an angel, and I wondered what such appearances had to do with the Aaronic Priesthood.
But the ministering of angels can also be unseen. Angelic messages can be delivered by a voice or merely by thoughts or feelings communicated to the mind. President John Taylor described “the action of the angels, or messengers of God, upon our minds, so that the heart can conceive … revelations from the eternal world.” (October 1998, “The Aaronic Priesthood and Sacrament”)
The eternal pattern of families is prescribed by God and clearly delineated in the The Family: A Proclamation to the World. By engaging in Family History Work today, our children will have personal knowledge of this pattern sealed in their minds and on their hearts. This knowledge will come through personal spiritual experience.
This is not ancestor worship. This is a real-time partnership through the veil with those who came before us in our family tree. They came at a time when the saving ordinances of the gospel weren’t universally available. We covenanted to provide these ordinances vicariously through family history and temple work, even though in our time we must endure perilous evil.
In the midst of so much disinformation, distracting influences and negative societal pressures, our children and grandchildren must draw upon resources from both sides of the veil. These strengthening resources may make all the difference in helping them successfully navigate puberty, dating, courtship and marriage.
Well, I know what we'll be using for our FHE lesson tonight! Yesterday I was thinking about how our siblings on the other side of the veil are helping us like this. But they are currently outnumbered by Satan and his followers because most of "our team" is sitting on the sidelines in Spirit Prison. They're chomping at the bit to help us, but unable to because they haven't received the saving ordinances, including the priesthood. The more dead we redeem, the more help is available from the other side.
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