More Blessings of the Sabbath

While we are blessed for attending our meetings on Sunday, there are also blessings awaiting us when we keep the rest of the Sabbath day holy as well.  Last month Elder Nelson addressed the young adults of the church in a fireside.  Here is one of the things he told them.  

"Spend more time on your knees in prayer, more time in the scriptures, more time in family history work, more time in the temple. I promise you that as you consistently give the Lord a generous portion of your time, He will multiply the remainder." (Becoming True Millennials, January 10, 2016)

While he was not specifically referring to the Sabbath I believe that the promise is the same.  As we make time in our Sundays to do those activities which will please the Lord, he blesses us exponentially.  He is such a generous Heavenly Father.  He just wants to see us trying, doing a little more than we have done before, and he will bless us so much. 

In his April 2015 conference talk Elder Nelson reminded us of our responsibilities as parents to teach our children the gospel.

Quite a number of years ago, the First Presidency said,

“We call upon parents to devote their best efforts to the teaching and rearing of their children in gospel principles which will keep them close to the Church. The home is the basis of a righteous life, and no other instrumentality can take its place or fulfill its essential functions in carrying forward this God-given responsibility.

We counsel parents and children to give highest priority to family prayer, family home evening, gospel study and instruction, and wholesome family activities. However worthy and appropriate other demands or activities may be, they must not be permitted to displace the divinely-appointed duties that only parents and families can adequately perform.”

Elder Nelson pointed out that both we and our children are blessed when we use the Sabbath to fulfil this charge. In fact he got so excited about the possibilities available to us in this day and age to teach our children the gospel in our homes that he said,

"When I ponder this counsel, I almost wish I were a young father once again. Now parents have such wonderful resources available to help them make family time more meaningful, on the Sabbath and other days as well. They have LDS.org, Mormon.org, the Biblevideos, the Mormon Channel, the Media Library, theFriend, the New Era, the Ensign, the Liahona, and more—much more. These resources are so very helpful to parents in discharging their sacred duty to teach their children. No other work transcends that of righteous, intentional parenting!"

 We can teach our children the gospel every day of course, but what a blessing it is to have one day a week where many other things can be put aside giving us time to teach our children the gospel. We don't have jobs to go to, yard work to attend to, laundry to wash and fold, activities to drive to, school to attend.  We are blessed with 1 day in 7 which we can spend focussing on the gospel, studying it for ourselves, or instructing our children.   We can share scriptures and family history stories with them. We can look for opportunities to serve.  Baking cookies and taking them to a neighbor is something that children of all ages enjoy.  We can visit someone who is sick or lonely.  We can help our children write thankyou notes to their primary teachers.   We can work on the different awards that our children have been asked to pursue - Faith in God, Duty to God, Personal Progress. These programs are very simple to do.  Just open up their booklet and choose a requirement …  Often it asks them to read some scriptures and discuss them with their parents. How easy is that?  And you will both learn something and have quality time with each other.   We can work on family history with our kids.

We like to talk around the lunch or dinner table about what we have learned in our classes that day.  It’s a great time to help kids see how what they have learned applies to their lives.  It also helps them to pay attention at church because they know that their Dad is going to ask them what they learned.

As we instruct our children, we are benefitting as well.  Whenever we tell our children a scripture story or explain a gospel principle it becomes more engraved in our own heart and mind, ready to give us a reminder or strength when we need it.   Whenever we teach someone the gospel we learn ourselves as well.  This is a blessing.  And when we teach the gospel to our children we bless their lives as well.  We help strengthen their testimonies of the Savior and his teachings.  This blesses them throughout the week as they experience temptations and difficult situations.