FAMILY!
I’m so glad you are here joining us. We love our families and know you do too. Our intent is to help you learn more, focus more, appreciate more, enjoy more, and love your family more.
Without further ado, here’s my first guest blogger.
My name is Barett, I am a father, husband, cyclist, philanthropy encourager, a Mormon Bishop and amateur blogger.
“Daddy please come home. We miss you.” I have heard that phrase more than once from my own two little girls. Here they are.
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I travel a lot in my profession which of course is not an abnormal requirement for many fathers. Though many of us are conflicted about the requirements to travel I believe most of us in the end are really doing our best to provide for our families. In fact, I am writing this post sitting in a hotel room hundreds of miles from home.
I believe it is part of our DNA as males to want to provide for the financial welfare of our families. Providing for our family often is an exercise in emotional conflict with occasional twangs of guilt. On the one hand working hard to provide for our family is a motivating desire. On the other hand spending time with our family is an equally strong desire. I have found that the conflict is healthy as long as there is balance.
On Sunday we will honor the tenth anniversary of a horrific event in which many fathers and mothers lost their lives as they sought to provide for their families. I am especially moved by the stories of children losing their father. I am not entirely sure why these stories impact me so much. Maybe it is because I am a father who often is away from my own family.
Stories like those held in the hearts of the children of 9/11 are heart wrenching to me. They remind me of the fleeting nature of life. Life really is so very fragile. It can be snatched from us at any time. Thus stories like these are great reminders to me of the importance of spending time with my own family.
With that preface I guess I should move on to the part of the Proclamation on the Family I was actually asked to write on.
“We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.”
Do you see the parallels to 9/11, the strong desire we males have to provide and this section of the Proclamation? We men (and many women too) work very hard to provide for our families. While doing so we should keep in mind the central role families play in our Father in heaven’s plan. He too is a loving father who wants to provide for each of us. I am convinced that the sacred inclination we men have to provide for our families is an inheritance from our own Heavenly Father. Thus we can safely have confidence that our desire to provide and work hard at our professions is a good thing.
I also understand from the above section that though we may suffer loss of loved ones in this life we can take comfort in knowing that the “eternal destiny” of families is to be together again on the other side of the veil. Families are eternal. Doesn’t that sound like a true concept? Isn’t it only fair that hard earned love in this life can endure into the next? I believe that the love had between parents and children cannot be broken by death. I also believe that those relationships if severed prematurely by death in this life will be renewed in the life to come.
In D&C 130:2 we learn that “the same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal glory, which glory we do not now enjoy.” Further in Section 137:5 we read that the Prophet Joseph Smith in a vision of the world to come saw “Father Adam and Abraham, and my father, and my mother, my brother Alvin, that has long since slept.” Elder Robert D Hales taught that “the plan of the Father is that family love and companionship will continue into the eternities…The family relationships we have here on this earth are important, but they are much more important for their effect on our families for generations in mortality and throughout all eternity.” (Robert D. Hales, The Eternal Family, Ensign November 1996, 26, 65.)
I hope we can all take a few minutes in the coming days to evaluate our own interactions with our families. Are we balanced? Are we providing for them temporally, emotionally and spiritually?
I can always tell when I am pushing it when my girls actively try and barricade the door preventing me from leaving the home for work. On the one hand it is the cutest thing in the world and on the other it tugs at my heart and tells me they need more of my time.
P.S. Professionally I encourage others to be philanthropic, in that spirit take a look at this organization that is helping the estimated 5,000 children of those who lost their lives on 9/11. Here is a short video description of what they do. So, let’s do something and help these kids!
P.P.S Barett won’t tell you this so I will. As he just stated he works in the philanthropic industry. See that widget under the Give section over in my sidebar? ———-> Yup, he’s one of the ones responsible for that, making it easier for us to contribute to others who are less fortunate. Pretty neat job to be helping others every day in such a real and tangible way!
Thanks, Barett for reminding us all that Heavenly Father wants to and does provide for us, His children.
Don’t forget to visit The Red Headed Hostess, Welcome to the Madness, and We Talk of Christ today to see what wonderful goodness they have about the Family Proclamation
Today’s giveaway:
This beautiful 11×14 print from theprintboutique has the major points of The Family: A Proclamation to the World put in graphic form. The colors can be customized to fit your décor. All prints are printed on e-surface photographic quality paper with archival inks and a matte finish.
The Print Boutique is offering all of you a 15% discount for the next two weeks! Just enter code ‘celebratefamily’ without the quote marks into the code box upon checkout.
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Thank you for a wonderful post I really do believe it is in the male DNA because my wonderful husband has the same feeling of providing for our family.
Beautiful guest post. Yay for family and philanthropy!
The same sociality point really hits “home” with me when you put it in that context. Thank you!
A great perspective on the Proclamation! I especially love this challenge: “I hope we can all take a few minutes in the coming days to evaluate our own interactions with our families. Are we balanced? Are we providing for them temporally, emotionally and spiritually?”
Thanks for giving more insight into that tug-of-war for men. As I read your words, I just kept thinking about the same tug-of-war I feel as a woman. The Lord has given me talents that I know I want to develop (that He wants me to develop), but I too must learn to balance that with the most important truth: that “family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.”
I love hearing such tender messages from men. Thanks for adding a bright spot to my day. 🙂
Thank you so much for all the hard work you all have put into this celebration.
What a great post! It is so nice to get a man’s perspective-in the blog world it is rare.
Really enjoyed this post; it’s a blessing to reminded of so many important things!
Love the timeliness of this celebration. As we remember that awful day 10 years ago, it reminds me that the things I find most important, my family, are eternal!
I enjoyed reading your perspective on this topic. Thanks for sharing!
Great guest blog, so thought provoking, and it’s great to hear a Dad’s perspective.
Just found you through MMM … I’m your newest follower!
Thank you for a wonderful post!
Great post. I really enjoyed it. 🙂
My husband always says “I don’t want to go, but I have to go”. I know he would rather be home with us but he also understands his responsibilities. We feel very grateful that he is able to work and provide for our family so I don’t have to go out of the home to work.
Thanks for the insight of what our husbands go though. Sometimes I forget what it emotionaly does for them to leave us each day to provide. I am grateful for that and will make sure to show my husband a little more apprication.
thank you!
Wonderful post today (as always) Thanks for a fabulous and inspiring blog, I love it. Hooray for celebrating families! 🙂
Thanks for sharing a father’s perspective. With my Sweetheart providing for us is one of the greatest blessing I have. I’m grateful he is willing to do that.
Thanks for your perspective.
I really enjoyed this post. It brought to mind my husband’s decision, many years back, to leave a really promising military career of advancement and awards to be at the dinner table every night. Balance.
Great post! And thank you for putting Tuesday’s Children on my radar. What an incredible organization!!
This was great, thanks for sharing!
Thank you for post. I really enjoyed reading it.
It is wonderful (and heart wrenching) to hear this perspective from a man/husband/father. My husband does not have this perspective, and prefers to hurt, ignore, and neglect. I’m glad there are real, good families out there (for the sake of the example they set, and their own personal happiness), but it hurts that I can’t be a part of that on this earth.
I appreciate your thoughts. I know my husband’s favorite place to be is home with us, and I am grateful for the sacrifice he makes everyday to provide for his family and to serve the Lord in his demanding calling. Thank goodness he doesn’t have to travel too, I don’t know how you do it all!
I’m grateful for the blessing given to men as Barett wrote about. My father was gone from home working when I grew up, but he worked hard to provide for his family. My husband also works hard for our family. I know it is the nature that fathers are blessed with from our own Father in Heaven
Thank you for sharing this!
An interesting read, thank you
RJR daydreamer
It is so refreshing to read from a man’s perspective. I love the insights you have provided. Thank you so much for sharing.
I always look forward to and enjoy your Celebration on the Family. It is always too short and very uplifting. Thank you!
This is a great post. Thank you. I’m really looking forward to these two weeks.
I think kids DO bring a balance for men that they can’t find elsewhere. Thank you.
So good to hear a man’s perspective!
It is nice to hear a mans perspective on the proclamation thank-you for sharing. I am loving the celebration on families! I am grateful for the knowledge that families are forever and that we need to do our part here to make our families strong so that we can live together forever in the eternities.
I stubbled onto your site about a week ago and absolutely love it. Your site has inspired me to start a blog of my own. I have been thinking about doing that for a long time but I felt I couldn’t contribute in the way so many of you talented bloggers can, but I think I might give it a try now. Thanks for inspiring me!!
What a great post! Thanks for sharing.
I love this! I woke up this morning so excited to read all the posts in celebration!
You ladies do SO much good with your blogs! Thank you for spreading the word that families are AWESOME!!! 🙂
I am so happy that you are apart of this great celebration of Family 2011.
Thank you
What wonderful thoughts! Thanks for sharing!
I’m so grateful when I hear men who do understand the need for balance even though you do have to work to provide for your family. I plan on sharing this with my children, especially my son.
Thank you everyone for your kind comments. I am glad I was able to contribute. I look forward to reading the posts to come on the family.