Practicing Parenthood

At Pathway tonight, we looked at two talks about marriage and family from this last General Conference. If you attended last General Conference, you probably recall that there were several talks about families this time - so many, in fact, that I marvel that any of them had anything truly unique to say. Yet, one of them, Why Marriage and Family Matter - Everywhere in the World by Elder L. Tom Perry, taught me yet another reason why families are so important.

I know what I'm about to say isn't news to anyone who's reading this, but God isn't just God. He isn't just some all-powerful creature who decided to make creatures so He could watch them do whatever they do, like a child watches an ant farm. God is our Heavenly Father. He is the Father of our spirits. We are the children of God. And from modern revelation, we've learned that we can grow up to become like our Father. We can become parents, too.

Families can teach us about our relationship with God, but they can also give us practical experience we can draw on when we become heavenly parents. Raising children can give us insights to how God raises us, but it can also teach us how to raise our future spirit children.

I had never thought about marriage and child-rearing that way until this evening, but it makes a lot of sense. One of the main reasons we came to Earth is to gain practical experience in doing things that we'll be doing for the rest of eternity. Partly, that means exercising self-control and essentially being perfect (which takes a LOT of practice!) and partly, that means learning how to raise children. We have to learn it somewhere, and it's a central part of God's plan that we start learning it here.

Families are so important to God's plan because they fulfill so many vital roles. They bring more of our Heavenly Father's spirit children into the world, they give those children safe, loving places in which to learn about the Gospel, they teach us how our Heavenly Father must feel as He watches over us, and now I've learned that families also teach us what we need to do to become heavenly parents.

Marriage and families are divine institutions inspired and ordained of God. Raising a family has many lasting benefits. Now, I've learned about another one. While reading through those talks about marriage and families, I felt a witness that families are a central part of God's plan. Thanks to the discussion we had in Pathway class tonight, now I know yet another reason why. It takes practice to become good parents. I can only imagine how much practice it must take to become heavenly ones!