Built Upon a Rock

There is a great Primary song that even our little nursery and sunbeam children learn.  It is all about a wise man and a foolish man and the differences between them.  The wise man builds his house upon a rock.  When the rains and floods come, his house stands firm.  The foolish man builds his house upon the sand.  When the rains and floods come his house cannot stand.  The sand washes away in the rain and his house goes with it. The rock in the song is our Savior, Jesus Christ. 

One of my favorite scriptures is Helaman 5:12

And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

No family, no person on this earth will escape the hail, the storms, or the mighty winds.  They will come.  The question is, will our families be able to withstand?  Are we built upon a sure foundation that will hold us through the hard times that most certainly are part of life?

So how do we build our homes and families upon the Rock which is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?

The story of Lehi and his family in the wilderness comes to mind. Lehi understood the importance of being built upon the rock.  First of all, he was a man who listened to the Spirit, a man who heard the voice of the Lord giving him revelation for himself and his family.  As parents, are we living our lives in ways that we can be worthy to receive such revelation for our own families?  And when those promptings come, are we as parents living our lives so that we hear those small voices and act upon them for the good of our marriages and children? 

 Lehi also knew the importance of having the word of God for his family.  When the Lord told him to send someone back to get the plates from Laban, he was quick to act.  He knew that in order to be built upon a rock, a family needed to have the words of the Lord.  How important are the words of God in our own families?  Do we read the scriptures together every day?  Do we teach the scriptures in our Family Home Evenings?  Do we listen to or watch General Conference twice a year, and then review and discuss what was said in our families? 

 Lehi also had the liahona to guide him and his family.  He understood that if they were to be guided by this instrument, they had to be keeping the commandments.  If they were doing all they could to do what was right, this instrument could show them the way to go.  Are we keeping the commandments in our own families?  Are we using the "instruments" that the Lord has given us to guide our families' decisions?  We have the scriptures and the words of living prophets, we have the programs of the church, we have wonderful amazing resources on Lds.org?  This church offers us so much help and guidance in raising righteous families. 
 
Lehi and Sarah built their family's home upon the rock.  But their lives were not picture perfect.  Some of their children were strong and faithful, while others struggled and were rebellious.  Does this mean that Lehi and Sarah were not good parents?  Does this mean that they were not doing all they could to teach their family true principles?  Absolutely not!!  But I testify that when hard times come in our families…whether those troubles be children who make unwise choices, health issues, death, job loss, or a million other trials, families built upon the rock of the Savior Jesus Christ will stand.  They will weather the storms.

Pres. Benson warned us back in 1981:

“that it is the design of Satan to thwart the plan of our Eternal Father. The plan of the adversary is to destroy the youth of the Church – the rising generation, as the Book of Mormon calls them – and to destroy the family unit." (Nov. 81 Ensign)

And in our last General Conference, Boyd K. Packer, President of the Quorum of the Twelve warned us:

"We live in a very dangerous world that threatens those things that are most spiritual. The family, the fundamental organization in time and eternity, is under attack from forces seen and unseen. The adversary is about. His objective is to cause injury. If he can weaken and destroy the family, he will have succeeded." (May 2013 Ensign)

By teaching our family of Christ and his life here on the earth, by helping them understand the Atonement and his unconditional love for each of them, by trying each day to follow the example of our Savior, we build our family foundation on the Rock, which is Jesus Christ.  We give our family the strong foundation it will need in the trying times ahead of us.