Every Monday night, members of our church the whole world over gather together in their own families in their own homes to have an evening dedicated to family growth and unity. These Family Home Evenings, as they are called, usually involve the singing of hymns, scripture study, lessons on gospel topics, prayer, and sometimes a fun activity and dessert. In my childhood home, I always loved our family nights. They were fun and happy and brought a good feeling into our homes. I was blessed to have wonderful parents that were dedicated to God and knew the importance of raising their children to have devotion to the Lord as well. I can remember many of the lessons that my parents gave to us. I have fond memories of us all playing games together and bonding over some delicious treat. One thing I so looked forward to in having my own family was implementing these Family Home Evenings.
Our oldest is two now and old enough to sit through a short lesson (at least KINDA sit through it...) and even remember some of what we teach and I LOVE that we get to start the tradition of family nights in our home. Each time I have the opportunity to tell him about his Heavenly Father or Jesus Christ or prophets it just reaffirms my own faith. Today, our lesson was about God's plan for us. We talked about how God is the father of our spirits and how we lived with Him before we came to earth. We talked about how God made this beautiful world and everything in it for us. We talked about our bodies that He gave us and how special they are, that they are similar to His body. We talked about how this life is time to learn and be happy and be grateful for all that God made and help others. And then we taught that when this life is over, we get to go back to Heaven and be with God again and how happy that will be. We talked about the different members of our families that have already gone back to heaven before us, how they are waiting for us and will hug us when we get there, and how God and Jesus especially will be wanting to hug us.
Aren't these beautiful truths to be able to teach a child. Is there anything more important to teach a child than who they are, where they came from, why they are here, and what happens next? And is there anything happier?
As we were discussing our family members that have passed beyond this life, I found my heart filled with gratitude that I will have a chance to see and hug these members of our family again and that Nathan will be able to meet them some day. That is the silver lining behind the sting of death, that death is not the end, and that we can continue these beautiful family relationships beyond this earth.
Happy isn't even the right word for how wonderful that makes me feel.
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