I agree with this -
Marriage is not 50-50.
Marriage has to be 100-100.
It isn't dividing everything in half, but giving everything you've got!"
saw this on facebook
Showing posts with label Marriage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marriage. Show all posts
Friday, January 17, 2014
marriage
A statement:
On December 20, 2013, a federal district judge in Salt Lake City issued an order legalizing same-sex marriage in Utah, striking down century-old state laws and a state constitutional amendment that defined marriage exclusively as between a man and a woman. The United States Supreme Court has put that ruling on hold pending consideration of the issue by an appellate court. During the interval between the district court ruling and the Supreme Court stay, numerous same-sex marriages were performed in Utah. Legal proceedings and legislative action in some other states and countries have given civil recognition to same-sex marriage relationships.
As we face this and other issues of our time, we encourage all to bear in mind our Heavenly Father’s purposes in creating the earth and providing for our mortal birth and experience here as His children. “God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth” (Genesis 1:27–28). “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). Marriage between a man and a woman was instituted by God and is central to His plan for His children and for the well-being of society. Strong families, guided by a loving mother and father, serve as the fundamental institution for nurturing children, instilling faith, and transmitting to future generations the moral strengths and values that are important to civilization and crucial to eternal salvation.
Changes in the civil law do not, indeed cannot, change the moral law that God has established. God expects us to uphold and keep His commandments regardless of divergent opinions or trends in society. His law of chastity is clear: sexual relations are proper only between a man and a woman who are legally and lawfully wedded as husband and wife. We urge you to review and teach Church members the doctrine contained in “The Family: A Proclamation to the World.”
Just as those who promote same-sex marriage are entitled to civility, the same is true for those who oppose it. The Church insists on its leaders’ and members’ constitutionally protected right to express and advocate religious convictions on marriage, family, and morality free from retaliation or retribution. The Church is also entitled to maintain its standards of moral conduct and good standing for members.
Consistent with our fundamental beliefs, Church officers will not employ their ecclesiastical authority to perform marriages between two people of the same sex, and the Church does not permit its meetinghouses or other properties to be used for ceremonies, receptions, or other activities associated with same-sex marriages. Nevertheless, all visitors are welcome to our chapels and premises so long as they respect our standards of conduct while there.
While these matters will continue to evolve, we affirm that those who avail themselves of laws or court rulings authorizing same-sex marriage should not be treated disrespectfully. The gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us to love and treat all people with kindness and civility—even when we disagree.
As members of the Church, we are responsible to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to illuminate the great blessings that flow from heeding God’s commandments as well as the inevitable consequences of ignoring them. We invite you to pray that people everywhere will have their hearts softened to the truths of the gospel, and that wisdom will be granted to those who are called upon to decide issues critical to society’s future.
---
a post I read a while ago - Marriage isn't for you, by Seth Adam Smith
Advice from his dad:
"You don’t marry to make yourself happy, you marry to make someone else happy. More than that, your marriage isn’t for yourself, you’re marrying for a family. Not just for the in-laws and all of that nonsense, but for your future children. Who do you want to help you raise them? Who do you want to influence them? Marriage isn’t for you. It’s not about you. Marriage is about the person you married.”
This advice "went against the grain of today’s 'Walmart philosophy', which is if it doesn’t make you happy, you can take it back and get a new one."
"No, a true marriage (and true love) is never about you. It’s about the person you love—their wants, their needs, their hopes, and their dreams. Selfishness demands, “What’s in it for me?”, while Love asks, 'What can I give?”
---
An Empty Jar, also found on the blog by Seth Adam Smith
From S. Michael Wilcox:
“My wife often cans peaches and pears in the fall. A great deal of work is necessary just to prepare the fruit. Then, once it is prepared, she puts it into jars, places the seals on, twists the lids tightly into place, and sets the jars in boiling water. Then she waits for the seals to set.
She has performed this operation dozens of times with hundreds of jars. In all that time I have never seen her seal an empty jar. Unless the jar is loaded with fruit, a seal is not placed. I doubt if anyone, among the thousands who can fruit every year, has ever sealed an empty jar. There must be something to preserve or the seal has no significance.
The sealing of temple covenants is similar. When we are married at the altars of the temple, the Lord, from one point of view, gives us an empty jar. Then he instructs us to fill it with the wonderful fruits of righteous marriage. We fill it with love and compromise and forgiveness and joy and peace and shared trails; we fill it with all the things of life, all the good fruit. As we keep our covenants, returning often to renew them as we work for the dead, the jar begins to fill. As we grow older and our love deepens, we desire to preserve forever all the good we have stored.
Our abiding in the covenant allows the Lord to place the seal on our covenant relationship and preserve the fruits of our righteousness for all eternity. This is the same for all temple covenants. Nobody seals an empty jar; neither does the Lord seal empty covenants. First there must be fruit to preserve.”
Church Instructs Leaders on Same-Sex Marriage HERE
As we face this and other issues of our time, we encourage all to bear in mind our Heavenly Father’s purposes in creating the earth and providing for our mortal birth and experience here as His children. “God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth” (Genesis 1:27–28). “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). Marriage between a man and a woman was instituted by God and is central to His plan for His children and for the well-being of society. Strong families, guided by a loving mother and father, serve as the fundamental institution for nurturing children, instilling faith, and transmitting to future generations the moral strengths and values that are important to civilization and crucial to eternal salvation.
Changes in the civil law do not, indeed cannot, change the moral law that God has established. God expects us to uphold and keep His commandments regardless of divergent opinions or trends in society. His law of chastity is clear: sexual relations are proper only between a man and a woman who are legally and lawfully wedded as husband and wife. We urge you to review and teach Church members the doctrine contained in “The Family: A Proclamation to the World.”
Just as those who promote same-sex marriage are entitled to civility, the same is true for those who oppose it. The Church insists on its leaders’ and members’ constitutionally protected right to express and advocate religious convictions on marriage, family, and morality free from retaliation or retribution. The Church is also entitled to maintain its standards of moral conduct and good standing for members.
Consistent with our fundamental beliefs, Church officers will not employ their ecclesiastical authority to perform marriages between two people of the same sex, and the Church does not permit its meetinghouses or other properties to be used for ceremonies, receptions, or other activities associated with same-sex marriages. Nevertheless, all visitors are welcome to our chapels and premises so long as they respect our standards of conduct while there.
While these matters will continue to evolve, we affirm that those who avail themselves of laws or court rulings authorizing same-sex marriage should not be treated disrespectfully. The gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us to love and treat all people with kindness and civility—even when we disagree.
As members of the Church, we are responsible to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to illuminate the great blessings that flow from heeding God’s commandments as well as the inevitable consequences of ignoring them. We invite you to pray that people everywhere will have their hearts softened to the truths of the gospel, and that wisdom will be granted to those who are called upon to decide issues critical to society’s future.
---
a post I read a while ago - Marriage isn't for you, by Seth Adam Smith
Advice from his dad:
"You don’t marry to make yourself happy, you marry to make someone else happy. More than that, your marriage isn’t for yourself, you’re marrying for a family. Not just for the in-laws and all of that nonsense, but for your future children. Who do you want to help you raise them? Who do you want to influence them? Marriage isn’t for you. It’s not about you. Marriage is about the person you married.”
This advice "went against the grain of today’s 'Walmart philosophy', which is if it doesn’t make you happy, you can take it back and get a new one."
"No, a true marriage (and true love) is never about you. It’s about the person you love—their wants, their needs, their hopes, and their dreams. Selfishness demands, “What’s in it for me?”, while Love asks, 'What can I give?”
---
An Empty Jar, also found on the blog by Seth Adam Smith
From S. Michael Wilcox:
“My wife often cans peaches and pears in the fall. A great deal of work is necessary just to prepare the fruit. Then, once it is prepared, she puts it into jars, places the seals on, twists the lids tightly into place, and sets the jars in boiling water. Then she waits for the seals to set.
She has performed this operation dozens of times with hundreds of jars. In all that time I have never seen her seal an empty jar. Unless the jar is loaded with fruit, a seal is not placed. I doubt if anyone, among the thousands who can fruit every year, has ever sealed an empty jar. There must be something to preserve or the seal has no significance.
The sealing of temple covenants is similar. When we are married at the altars of the temple, the Lord, from one point of view, gives us an empty jar. Then he instructs us to fill it with the wonderful fruits of righteous marriage. We fill it with love and compromise and forgiveness and joy and peace and shared trails; we fill it with all the things of life, all the good fruit. As we keep our covenants, returning often to renew them as we work for the dead, the jar begins to fill. As we grow older and our love deepens, we desire to preserve forever all the good we have stored.
Our abiding in the covenant allows the Lord to place the seal on our covenant relationship and preserve the fruits of our righteousness for all eternity. This is the same for all temple covenants. Nobody seals an empty jar; neither does the Lord seal empty covenants. First there must be fruit to preserve.”
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Blessings of the Temple
Talk I gave in Spanish Branch 27 May 2012
32 years ago Terry and I were married in the Idaho Falls Temple.
32 years ago Terry and I were married in the Idaho Falls Temple.
At that point and time our immediate family began as we were
sealed together, with any and all children that would be born into our family.
I was raised in an LDS family and from a very young age I learned
of the importance of being sealed in the temple, and that was my goal.
Accomplishing that goal was truly a wonderful event. That very moment I felt the “gladness” that
the prophet Joseph Smith talked about when he said that these holy ordinances
are a source of “gladness for the living
and the dead.”
That goal of being sealed in the temple to an awesome man was
accomplished, but immediately another goal was set. Together, Terry and I would need to live
righteous lives to be worthy of those promises made to us as we covenanted with
our Father in Heaven.
The “gladness” I felt during our temple sealing has continued
to grow. As each of our 9 children were
born we could feel of the joy and gladness knowing that they were ours for ever
and always if we lived righteously – worthy of those temple blessings bestowed
upon us in 1980. How glorious!
When we started having children our goal included helping them
learn the principles of the gospel, believe and have faith in Jesus Christ and
Heavenly Father, and do all that was necessary so that they too would set and
achieve a goal to be sealed in the temple.
5 of our 9 children are now married, and that means we have
added 5 more daughters to our family. Each
of them are sealed to us because each of those 5 were married and sealed in a
holy temple to one of our sons. We plan
on the next 4 children marrying in the temple when the time comes, so that all
9 will have made those correct choices.
As of today, these 5 marriages have brought us 7
grandchildren. Because those marriages
were performed in holy temples we are all sealed / linked together. So, each time one of our children is sealed
and a grandchild is born our joy and gladness increases. It is wonderful to be an eternal family and I
pray that we all live worthy of those sacred temple blessings.
I have spoken of how our family is linked thru the future
generations because of the temple covenants that Terry and I made 32 years ago,
but the link goes back in history through our ancestors as well as forward to
our descendants.
55 years ago Gelene Hill and Ronald Rodeback (my parents)
were sealed in the SLC Temple. Their parents were sealed in the temple. They were a great example to me. My 3rd great grandparents were the first
in my family that were sealed in the temple in 1868, making me the 6th
generation of members.
Terry’s parents, Idris Egbert and Keith Auger Hebdon were sealed
in the Logan Temple 68 years ago. Terry’s
grandparents were sealed in 1910; and
his great grandparents were the first generation to be sealed - in November
1868, making Terry the 4th generation of members in his family.
But the link doesn’t begin or end there in 1868. Family history has been done back to Terry’s
5th great grandparents, and each of those couples have now been
sealed to each other and to their children, making our link continuous to that
point. That is the last of the records
we can find, but I know that someday we will be able to find the rest of our
line back to our first parents on earth, and have the temple work done for each
of them, and it will bring me much joy and gladness when that happens.
Unlike Terry and me, many of you are the first generation of
members, and some of you are the first generation of members to be sealed in
the temple. Congratulations to you! You
have made a great choice. Surely you
experience the joy and gladness from having made covenants with God in His holy
house. Your children will be blessed as
they follow your good example and righteous teachings. There will be much joy and gladness in your
future because of your great choices to be baptized, and then sealed in the
temple to your spouse and your children.
When you go to the temple for the first time you receive your
own endowment. It is all about you. Then you are able to be sealed to your spouse
and then your children. Then every time
you go back to the temple you take the name of someone else through the temple
so they can receive their endowment if they so choose. You can also take the names of others to be
sealed which creates more blessings for them because of your good choices. You
are performing a great service for them.
Not only is it a great service for those you are going
through the temple for, but you and your family will have blessings added upon
you. There is such a special feeling inside the temple. Every time you go to
the temple you bring a bit of it back to your home. That Spirit permeates your soul for a time
and your family will feel of it.
Therefore, the more often you attend the temple the more often your soul
is filled with His Spirit and the easier it is to stay with you, and the more
good you will do.
Julie Beck said, “As we
participate in temple ordinances and family history work, we are certain to
have the spirit to comfort us in our challenges and to guide us in important
decisions.” I have experienced that
comfort and guidance.
Russell M. Nelson said, “Temples
bring us peace and spiritual strength in this life and enable us to be reunited
with our families after death.”
During this last general conference Elder Hales reminded us
that We become converted and spiritually self-reliant as we prayerfully live
our covenants – thru worthily partaking of the sacrament, being worthy of a
temple recommend by steadily and steadfastly obeying commandments, faithfully
living the gospel and following the prophets, and sacrificing to serve others,
and he promised us that “the sacrifices
we make to receive temple ordinances are worth every effort we make.” I believe that is true.
President Eyring promised that “there is nothing more important than honoring the marriage and family
covenants you have made or will make in the temples of God.”
Our Prophet, Pres. Monson, reminds us of the importance of
temple work almost every time he speaks. Surely he wants us to realize the joy
that comes to faithful members as they attend the temple. He has encouraged us to do all we can to make
our marriage eternal. He has promised us that there is “no more important goal than to be worthy to enter the temple.” He
also most always leaves a blessing upon us with words such as, “may righteousness guide your every step”. That is my prayer too.
The blessings of the temple are many, but those blessings are
not often easy to speak of, many are precious and personal, which means we each
must experience those blessings ourselves.
I testify that the blessings of the temple are eternal and they seal our
families together forever, and those blessings will be worth every effort we
put forth.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Still Pondering!
"Choose your love; Love your choice."
"...walk side by side as a son and a daughter of God."
"[be] the right person."
"...may righteousness guide our every step as we journey through life."
Pres. Monson (from April 2011 Conf.)
"...walk side by side as a son and a daughter of God."
"[be] the right person."
"...may righteousness guide our every step as we journey through life."
Pres. Monson (from April 2011 Conf.)
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