Wow! I cannot believe that the spring semester of BYU Idaho is over! It has gone by so fast. I have learned so many wonderful things that I will use for the rest of my life. My kids and future family will be blessed by what I have learned. Sadly, I will not be continuing my blog. I have loved writing my thoughts and insights and I hope you have all enjoyed reading them. Hopefully you were able to learn something new from them and apply at least one principle.
Today as my last blog I wanted to talk about effort. While I have touched on this in some of my other blogs, I wanted to come back to it. Throughout the semester we have talked about dos and don'ts and whys to make a marriage and family successful. There are so many things that we can do or avoid doing. And at least for me personally when I look at all those things it can be a bit overwhelming. Therefore, something that helps me put these things into perspective is by focusing on a bigger, overarching goal or principle. And that principle is effort.
If you want something to be good, successful, and filled with joy, you have to put a lot of time and effort into making it so. This takes sacrifice and willingness to give up some immediate pleasures for future joy. This applies to your parenting style, how you interact with your spouse, how you manage your time and all the responsibilities that come from families, how you spend your money, how you involve the Lord, and so many other things.
“If you want something to last forever, you treat it differently. You shield it and protect it. You never abuse it. You don’t expose it to the elements. You don’t make it common or ordinary. If it ever becomes tarnished, you lovingly polish it until it gleams like new. It becomes special because you have made it so, and it grows more beautiful and precious as time goes by. Eternal marriage is just like that. We need to treat it just that way.” (Eternal Marriage, By Elder F. Burton Howard, April 2003)
I love this quote! It perfectly explains that we need to put effort into things that we want to last forever. If we want good relationships with our families to last forever then we need to treat them differently. We need to deeply value them.
“Marriage brings greater possibilities for happiness than does any other human relationship. Yet some married couples fall short of their full potential. They let their romance become rusty, take each other for granted, allow other interests or clouds of neglect to obscure the vision of what their marriage really could be. Marriages would be happier if nurtured more carefully.” (Nurturing Marriage, by President Nelson, April 2006)
Marriage and families can bring so much happiness. They can succeed! I have seen them succeed. I have experienced the joy that comes from putting a lot of effort into family. No individual or family is perfect. Often times in families we might feel like we come up short. But it is worth every effort. Do not let laziness, perfection, or desire for immediate pleasure prevent you from throwing everything you have into making your family successful. It will be so worth it. Family is not just an on earth thing. We can be with them in the next life. So take care of your family, work on your family, give your family your best self. But most importantly, rely on Jesus Christ for your family. Turn to Him and the strength that He can bring you. He wants you to succeed. He wants your family to succeed and have so much joy. He will help you achieve this.
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