“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
Steven R. bangerter tells a great story of a man who fell away and came back. You can find the link here,
“And thou shalt teach [these words] diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”
https://www.lds.org/languages/eng/content/scriptures/ot/deut/6
I love this scripture so much! It makes it clear that we need to be teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ at every given moment. Teaching moments with our children are not always planned. Sometimes they just arise and we need to seize on them.
Recently I was running late for getting my kids to school. As we ran out the door I remembered that we hadn’t prayed. Instead of trying to herd them all back inside we gathered in a circle in front of the car and prayed.
Teaching moment are not always perfect but they are always there and it is our job to see them and capitalize on them.
“Remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.”
https://www.lds.org/languages/eng/content/scriptures/bofm/hel/5
I love the imagery in this scripture. As parents it is our job to lay the foundation for our children’s testimonies. We do that by doing the small stuff: praying, reading scriptures, going to church, having Family Home Evening and talking of Christ often. They are small things but they have a huge impact on our lives and the lives of all those around us.
And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.
This is one of my personal favorite scriptures.
Life for our children (for anyone in fact) will have lots of ups and downs. It is important that they know who to turn to when struggles come their way. The world will not bring them what they need. Ever lasting peace and happiness only comes through their Savior Jesus Christ. It will make their life so much easier if they already learned about Him and come to love and rely on Him while they were in our homes, learning from us.
– Debbie Olson
Love these so much!! I've read them at least 10 times!!