2.205 As Parents, We Can Step Up

In Matthew 5.13, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth, a bold reminder that our lives are meant to carry his flavor, his truth, and his love to the world. Join me each day to explore one verse of scripture and one thought, striving to stay full of savor and truly live as savory salt. Hello my friends, it's great to have you with me.

Today let's be anxiously engaged in a good cause and bring to pass much righteousness. Parents, a message for you today. Kids, you can listen too.

We've been reading Doctrine and Covenants sections 81 through 83 this week. Enjoying those a lot by the way. And Alma chapters 34 through 38.

We're going to finish our Doctrine and Covenants readings for this week. We're going to talk about the week today in terms of sharing the verses and we're going to shift gears into Alma in the next coming days of the week. Doctrine and Covenants section 83 is an interesting one because it's a revelation that was received in council with his brethren as it says here.

So the prophet Joseph Smith is sitting in council and I would love to have been part of that conversation. I going to read a passage from the Bible So there were several verses in here I didn know whether to pick one on the husbands and wives side of things or the one on the parents and children side of things Ultimately I landed on Doctrine and Covenants section 83 verse 4 It says All children have claim upon their parents for their maintenance until they are of age. Now we don't really use terminology like that anymore, have claim upon their parents for their maintenance.

And so that's taken me down quite an interesting rabbit hole. And it's interesting, Doctrine and Covenants section 83 has this kind of overload of general conference talks inside Names for the Bible Book of Mormon Doctrine and Covenants Pearl of Great Price Names for the Bible Book of Mormon Doctrine and Covenants Henry B Eyring Dieter F Uchtdorf We are battling daily not just for the attention of our children but we are battling daily for their souls And I've referenced this before sometimes, but I can remember when I was teaching at either high school that I taught at, I taught for 10 years. And it occurred to me many times that if you were to take the current rating system that is used for Hollywood in terms of rating, you know, movie ratings, whether it's PG or PG 13 or R, I know this is specific to America, but in these rating systems, they're trying to tell you as parents like, Hey, parental guidance suggested or restricted that you shouldn't watch that if you're a kid or if you're under age, that type of idea.

And in just the halls of school, the teenagers regularly, just if you use the same rating system, were living in an R-rated world. Regularly, for sure, PG-13, but they were living in an R-rated world just by walking the halls of high school. And so parents, we are bombarded.

We are at war for the souls of our children. We have the opportunity to step up, to play a role in their lives. I hear parents say, well, they won't listen because of, and they say their phones or their friends or their whatever it is.

It's an opportunity for us to realize that we are the ones that have claimed for that maintenance. It's us. It a chance for us to step up Parents those of you stepping up those of you engaging with your kids well done Stick to it You can do this We got this Our kids are going to make it.

And for those of us as well that could use another refocus, here's an opportunity to dive in to section 83 and to others in terms of general conference council to see the role that we can play in the lives of our children and to look at a possibility of how we can I am so grateful for the Lord's plan of salvation that includes fathers and mothers working together. I am grateful for the emphasis that the church puts on the family and the unit that is essential in many cases as prophets have said, essential to the very fibers of civilization. I hope I can fulfill my role as a father to my kids and I hope I can help my wife fulfill I hope that together we can build an eternal family and go forward with the joy that comes by living the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That's all for today my friends. Lift up your hearts and rejoice. Cleave into the covenants you have made and together we will be savory salt. For more information, visit us at www.fema.org.