September 19, 2010

Tonight I read a Conference talk by Henry B. Eyring called Help Them on Their Way Home. I really enjoyed this talk and the greatest thing was it was an affirmation of a lesson I feel I have learned powerfully in my life within the past five years, and that is the importance of being guided by the Spirit. In fact, that is the only way. He says that we "can arrive back to Heavenly Father only as [we] are guided and corrected by the Spirit of God."

This talk focused on how we can best help youth to return to our heavenly home. The greatest opportunity we have is within our own homes with our own children. We can help them to "put [their] feet firmly on the path home" within those first years of life. I am so grateful for the opportunity and blessing it is to be a mother and help my children develop faith and confidence that they are on the right path that will lead them home. Since the best counsel I can give them is to seek the guidance of the Spirit in their life and to live worthy of that, then the best way I can teach that to them is through my own example of doing that very thing. "We need to pray for the gifts of the Spirit. We need to ponder in the scriptures and in the words of living prophets. We need to make plans which are not only wishes but covenants. And then we need to keep our promises to the Lord. And we need to lift others by sharing with them the blessings of the Atonement which have come in our lives. And we need to exemplify in our own lives the steady and prolonged faithfulness that the Lord expects of them." I feel grateful that I myself am on this right path and living by the Spirit because I truly feel that this example of how I live my own life is and will continue to be the greatest gift I could ever give to my children, grandchildren and other generations to follow. I find great joy in living my life this way and hope for each of my descendants to also experience this same joy which comes as a result of faithful, obedient, righteous living.