Not everyone is born into a “happy family.” Although, some are and it is a joyous thing. Those families not only seem to function well, they actually do function well. When I asked my seminary students this week about joyous families, they described them in these terms: They’re happy. They’re righteous.
When I asked them to define a “righteous” family, they then started becoming more precise. “A righteous family is one who starts the day praying together … every day.” Another student mentioned, “They consistently have Family Home Evening – every week.” Another student said, “They read scriptures together every day, and pray together before they go to bed.”
This reminded me of what Elder Jeffrey Holland recently stated in a worldwide broadcast for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The theme for the meeting was Building Up a Righteous Posterity. Elder Holland spoke in a discourse entitled, “Ongoing Emphasis on the Family.” He gave an excellent analogy about the patterns within families, especially as pertaining to righteousness.
He spoke of his service-minded mother. Elder Holland’s family could not afford store-bought clothing. His mother would attempt to replicate the shirts in the stores. She did her best, but trying to invent a shirt without a true pattern made the final outcome quite unpredictable, let alone the additional shirts she made copying her first try. Here is Elder Holland’s additional comments as he paid tribute to his mother’s sincere efforts and what he learned:
I think you can see my point and hers. We are bound to be in trouble if a shirt is made from a shirt that was made from a shirt. A mistake or two in the first product—inevitable without a pattern—gets repeated and exaggerated, intensified, more awkward, the more repetitions we make, until finally this thing I’m to wear to school just doesn’t fit. One sleeve’s too long. The other’s too short. One shoulder seam runs down my chest. The other runs down my back. And the front collar button fastens behind my neck. I can tell you right now that such a look is not going to go over well in the seventh grade (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, “Ongoing Emphasis on the Family,” World Wide Leadership Meeting).
Elder Holland went on to compare his experience with these homemade shirts from his youth to attempting to build a successful family without God’s laws. We might get a “shirt” from the experience, but life continues to feel further and further from where we’d like it. Yet when we base our families off the teachings of Jesus Christ, we are using a “true pattern” to create the end desire – a family that is happy. Some of those seams within the true pattern or gospel of Jesus Christ are:
Morning prayer as a family – every morning
Daily scripture study as a family – every day
Evening prayer as a family – every evening
Weekly Family Home Evening – consistently every Monday night
Church attendance – every Sunday
This simple practices over time will help break cycles of abuse. I’ve seen it happen. These simple practices, when consistently built into a family’s life will help bring family members to happier and happier paths. I’ve seen it happen and know it is true. To read more about Elder Holland’s talk, click on Ongoing Emphasis on the Family. To learn more about Jesus Christ, visit the new site focused on the Savior.
