“Successful marriages and families are established and maintained
on principles of…work”
Successful families are founded upon the principle of
work. Work is not always easy and sometimes can cause conflict in families, but
I believe when families work together, they can grow and build relationships. When
done in the right spirit, family work has a profound potential to strengthen
and heal relationships. D. Todd Christofferson has said that “work builds and refines
character, creates beauty, and is the instrument of our service to one another
and to God." When Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden,
they learned the true meaning of work. In our lives today we must leave the
ease of Eden and follow our Jesus Christ.
Family work is a lifelong opportunity. When I think about
family work, I am transported back to my childhood and teenage years, thinking
about what my life was like and then trying to figure out what to do with my
little family today. Work can be rewarding and build family relations
Work is also an act of service. I love the example of
Jesus washing the feet of his apostles; he is their master but he did it
anyway, he said to them “for I have given you an example, that ye should do as
I have done to you. (John 13:12–15). In our families are we building
relationships by serving others; are we patterning our life after that of the
savior. I know that working together can be rewarding, it can be challenging
too, but in the end, the blessings will outweigh the hardships and our families
can progress together.
My parents and my husband’s parents are great examples to
me of hard workers. My father and mother instilled in us at a young age the importance
of work and it has been very beneficial in my life. Elder Russell M. Nelson has
said that “the home is the great laboratory of love. There the raw chemicals of selfishness and
greed are melded in the crucible of cooperation to yield compassionate concern
and love one for another.” Each Saturday we spent time together doing various
tasks and working together and I look back and think that those were some of
the greatest memories spent with my family. When I was in high school my parents purchased a home that needed a lot of outside work. There were times when my brothers and I would complain about the amount of work that was required of us. But we did it, we worked that landscape until it was beautified. We set goals on what we wanted to accomplish and we did it. Through that work, I came to love the outdoors; I came to love the beauty of the earth and I learned how to work towards a goal.
I know that at times the tasks that we had to seemed
mundane but we realized it had to be done. Family work really is sometimes boring.
It has been said that “Family work is prosaic work-commonplace, even tedious or
dull. How many times must we do the
dishes and laundry? But these small,
everyday events combine to form the character of a week, a month, a year, and
eventually a lifetime.” It would be beneficial to find joy in the simple aspects of work.
All family members must be active participants in family
work; it is vital that all contribute. I know there are times of complaining
but when family members work together the work gets done. In my own life right
now we are currently teaching our children to work and I am going to
incorporate the importance of family relationships more than ever now. “God
gave us family work as a link to one another, as a link to Him, as a stepping
stone toward salvation that is always available and that has the power to
transform us spiritually as we transform others physically.” (Family Work). L Tom Perry states, Teaching children the joy of honest
labor is one of the greatest of all gifts you can bestow upon them."
Let us make family work a blessing not a burden. We can
learn together and grow together when we work as a family.
No comments:
Post a Comment