parenthood

As parents, we have the responsibility to prepare our sons to be worthy and to have a desire to serve the Lord. We are stewards of those sons, held in reserve for this day.

The parent can train the natures of children to remain fast while their habits change through the years. We must have a citizenry which will by long inner training be able to feel secure in a storm. No parent can raise that kind of child till he is himself that kind of person.

I owe a lot to my parents, especially my mother and my father.

Who can explain Joseph Smith? What are "revelations from God"? What is their test? Is it not beyond reason that a lad, born of poor parents, devoid of any save the commonest education, too poor to buy books, should have accomplished what he did in less than 40 years, unless there was some great reason for it? Let any one, even a literary genius, after 40 years of life, try to write a companion volume to the Book of Mormon, and then almost daily for a number of years give out "revelations" that internally harmonize one with another, at the same time formulate a system of doctrine for a church, introduce many new principles, resuscitate extinct priesthoods and formulate a system of Church government which has no superior upon earth . . . to deny such a man a wonderful power over the human heart and intellect is absurd. Only fanatical prejudice can ignore it. However he may be accounted for by the reasoning mind, Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet was one of the wonders of his time.

Then we lost a child, there was that incident, a four year-old little girl. It had a profound effect on me and on Barbara. You know, . . . when you lose a child some families go apart. There's a common wisdom that the loss of a loved one for parents divides them later on. People cite divorce statistics. In our case it was just the other way around. And our family has been close, close, close. And Barbara and I have been married for over 50 years, and I think that horrible incident drew us even closer together.

If parents would only realize how they bore their children!

We mourn; we sorrow for our loved ones that go - our wives, our husbands, our children, our parents; we sorrow for them; and it is well and proper that we should moum for them and shed tears for the loss, for it is our loss; but it is their gain, for it is in the march of progress, advancement and development. It will be all right when our time comes, when we have finished our work and accomplished what the Lord required of us. If we are prepared, we need not be afraid to go, for it will be one of the most pleasant sensations that ever comes to the soul of man, whenever he departs, if he can go with a clear conscience into the presence of the Lord.

The joys of parents are secret, and so are their grieves and fears.

1. For the beauty of the earth, For the glory of the skies; For the love which from our birth, Over and around us lies; Lord of all, to Thee we raise This, our hymn of grateful praise. 2. For the wonder of each hour, Of the day and of the night; Hill and vale and tree and flow'r, Sun and moon, and stars of light; Lord of all, to Thee we raise This, our hymn of grateful praise. 3. For the joy of ear and eye, For the heart and mind's delight; For the mystic harmony, Linking sense to sound and sight; Lord of all, to Thee we raise This, our hymn of grateful praise. 4. For the joy of human love, Brother, sister, parent, child; Friends on Earth and friends above, For all gentle thoughts and mild; Lord of all, to Thee we raise This, our hymn of grateful praise. 5. For Thy church that evermore, Lifteth holy hands above; Off'ring up on ev'ry shore, Her pure sacrifice of love; Lord of all, to Thee we raise This, our hymn of grateful praise. Amen.

I thank my parents and my car for this. after buying a lottery ticket at a gas station, 1999