We want the spirit in our home...

We had a wonderful adult session of our Stake conference this afternoon. Pres. Milt Jensen told a story about how his wife disciplined their children that I thought was just too good to forget. I wanted to pass it along.

When their children would misbehave, instead of grounding them for life, Sis. Jensen would say, "You know, we want the spirit in our home. It wouldn't be right to invite people into our home to visit or play if we didn't have the spirit in our home. So it is important that you learn how to play together (or whatever it was) so that the spirit can be in our home again." I thought that was really a great thing to say. Teach the little ones that the things they do influence the spirit in their home, and make friend visits contingent on the spirit being in the home.

Ours was not a perfect family; there were many times I dropped the ball in our family having prayer together, or reading the scriptures together. But we succeeded more often than we failed, I believe. I believe that every generation tries to give their children a better life than they had; to give their children what they didn't have. It is really important, however, that parents give their children what they DID have - a home with the spirit of God in it. Reading the scriptures together every day, praying together every day - these are vital factors in building a family that lasts. We want our family, all of it, to be together forever. That is how it is done.