Sometimes as parents we struggle with certain of our children more than the others. I’ll never forget a professor I had once semester. He was the coolest guy, someone I really looked up to. So I was shocked one Monday when he came rushing in, out of breath, declaring he’d had a life changing experience over the weekend.
He’d discovered a book that helped him to see one of his children in a new light. He confessed to us that out of his six children, he’d loved five … until that past weekend. Now he loved all six.
I stared at this man, surprised that 1) he could be so honest, and 2) that he hadn’t loved all his children the same. That was a shocking thought to me. But then this man went on to explain what had happened.
He’d discovered that the reason five of his children had been so easy to love is that they had very similar personality styles to his; the sixth child, though, was a “yellow”-styled individual, full of carefree joy and self-expression, someone who felt life was meant to be enjoyed through fun rather than work.
The best part of the book, my professor explained, was that he saw his “yellow” child through new eyes – for the first time, he saw the beauty of this child.
The purpose of this blog is not to talk necessarily about that book, but about an important concept: our Heavenly Father does not need a book to love us all. He, in fact, loves each of us so much that He inviteth all to come unto him.
An early American prophet taught this truth about the Lord:
“Behold, the Lord esteemeth all flesh in one….” (1 Nephi 17:35).
Is this not beautiful? As mortals we may struggle with esteeming “all flesh in one.” We still have too many differences and imperfections to be exactly like God in this way (although as we progress in Christ‘s ways and the gospel, we become more and more like Him [see Matthew 5:48]).
Here is another scripture verse that seconds the witness of the Lord’s invitation to and for all to come to Him:
“…he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile” (2 Nephi 26:33).
Again, our Heavenly Father does not need a book to love us all. He, in fact, loves each of us so much that He inviteth all to come unto him through His Son, Jesus Christ. May we as parents do the same.
