Strengthening Marriage and Family: Lesson 1

Tyler started school this week so while he was busy doing homework tonight, I was wishing I had some to do as well. By the time I was a senior in college, I really loved going to class and learning. I loved doing assignments for my classes because I really loved what I was learning. It seems that just when I got the hang of studying and doing well in school it was time to graduate. Someday I hope to go back, but for now it doesn't really seem like a possibility. BYU has an independent study program that offers free online courses. I have thought about doing them before and even started one last year but I am determined to finish this one! I am going to do a blog post each week so that I can kind of be going to school with Tyler and we will finish the same week! Tyler is going to be very busy this semester and next, he is aiming to graduate a semester early. He can totally do it, but there are going to be some long, hard days for the both of us. It will be worth it.

Lesson 1: Families and The Great Plan of Happiness

• The family unit is eternal and was designed my God. It is not something that was new to us when we came to earth. We were in families when we were in Heaven. God has always been our Father in Heaven, we had Heavenly Parents. 
• "Marriage and the family unit are all the central part of the Plan of Progression and Exaltation. All things center in and around the family unit in the eternal perspective. Exaltation consists in the continuation of the family unit in eternity. Those for whom the family unit continues have eternal life; all others have a lesser degree of salvation in the mansions that are prepared." -Elder Bruce R McConkie
• This motivates me to be better. I want to be the mom that Leila needs to help her gain a testimony and be armed with righteousness. I want her to be the best she can be. I want to be the wife that Tyler needs to be a better priesthood holder and father. I want him to be the best he can be. I want to be the best I can be so that we can be together. I want to be with my family forever, that is what Heaven is. I am so grateful to be sealed to my parents and that I am linked to my siblings. I am grateful for the family that Tyler and I created and that we are sealed together. I am grateful that we are eternally linked, never to be broken.
• The Grand Prizes of Eternity are:
• Obtain a physical body
• Seeking spiritual growth
• Initiating a family
• I thought this was a sweet promise by Elder Boyd K Packer, "For some all is not complete in mortal life, for marriage and a family of their own have passed them by. But the great plan of happiness and the laws which govern it continue after death. Watched over by a kind and loving Heavenly Father, they will not, in the eternal pattern of things, be denied blessings necessary for their exaltation, including marriage and family. And it will be sweeter still because of the waiting and the longing."
• Three Pillars of Eternity:
• Creation
• Fall
• Atonement
• "These doctrines form the glorious trio that provides hope, healing, and help when we confront confusing, difficult, or tragic times."
• "It takes work and effort to recognize philosophies that are damaging to families and family relationships and safeguard our families."
• There are different sources of truth;
• Empiricism: Knowledge that comes through experience and the five senses.
• Rationalism: Knowledge that comes through reasoning.
• Empiricism + Rationalism: Scientific Method
• Revelation: Knowledge that God makes known to human beings.
• Revelation is over them all because it is knowledge directly from God and through the other sources there can be error. Science and Spiritual Truths will all align in time. 
• This story really touched me and taught me a valuable lesson:
• Their eight-year-old daughter was a collector of many treasures. Most of them were small toys, treasured art projects, or nature objects retrieved during outdoor adventures. One day, she received a gift from a family friend who had traveled to an exotic place and brought back a small but precious object as a gift. She was delighted. Several weeks later, a friend of hers was moving from the neighborhood. She was encouraged by her mother to present her friend with a “going-away” gift. Without a moment's hesitation, she came back with her most precious object. The mother was about to object and encourage her to give something less valuable, but she recognized that the child had given her a powerful example of avoiding “materialism.” The little girl demonstrated the ability to sacrifice for others and to value relationships over objects.
• WOW. Wasn't that great? I learned to give away the best things, instead of keeping them for myself. The world teaches us that we should keep the best for ourselves, but this little girl wanted to give what she treasured MOST away because the relationship was what mattered most. I need to be more like that. It doesn't matter what I HAVE but who I AM and what I GIVE. 
• Marvin J Ashton, " If he could have his way, Satan would distract us from our heritage. He would have us become involved in a million and one things in this life—probably none of which is very important in the long run—to keep us from concentrating on the things that are really important, particularly the reality that we are God's children."
• This example from Robert Millet is so great:
• "I shudder at the possibility that I might finish my life and then have the Lord explain to me that I had spent my time laboring largely in secondary causes. "
• Primary causes are Marriage and Family Life. That puts things in perspective, doesn't it?

I am excited to ponder the things that were presented in this lesson. I am grateful for all the resources we have to learn truth and gain knowledge. I am grateful for my marriage and my family and am grateful for every opportunity to strengthen them.

Love, 

Kelli