There's No Place Like Home!

     For those of you that know me, you know that I ADORE my family! They are my number one! My biggest role models, my cheerleaders, and my very best friends. I have a special relationship with every member of my family that I wouldn't trade for the world! I believe that I have this viewpoint because of the way that I was raised. My parents show in their daily actions that they are firm believers that "the family is ordained of God" (The Family: A Proclamation to the World). I can't count how many wacky games we've played, how many trips we've been on, or even how many movies we've watched together as a family with the sole purpose of strengthening our relationships with each other. I will forever be grateful for the efforts of my parents.
   
     I am so excited to one day have a family of my own. I am so excited to teach them the life lessons that I have learned and to raise them to know of their individual worth and potential.

     What breaks my heart is that the world is developing a different viewpoint of the family. Many people think that it is more important to pursue their dream jobs and make tons of money than take on the sacred duty of creating a family and raising them with good morals. Now don't get me wrong here, I'm not saying that having your dream job is bad! I'm not saying that trying to make a bunch of money is bad! I think those are both great things...BUT where are our priorities?
     Research has shown that fertility rates (number of children women have in their lifetimes) has been decreasing over time. Women aren't having as many children as they used to. There are many reasons behind that. Many believe that if society keeps having children we'll run out of resources, they believe that having many children is too expensive, they wait to get married and are too old to have children, they don't want the responsibility, they are fearful of marriage and having a family (due to their own personal experiences), they decided to pursue their careers (mentioned earlier) instead of starting a family, and many more things. Who's going to take care of the large population of elderly people if more children aren't being born? Who will be there for our children's children to marry? Who's going to be coming up with new ideas and advancements in technology? These all sound pretty extreme but think about it... If birthrates and fertility rates are going down, eventually the population is going to decrease. The U.S. is basically the only country with a replacement rate right now, but that is BECAUSE of immigrants. Eventually there won't even be enough immigrants to keep our population growing.

     Now I'm not sitting here saying that you need to go and have 20 kids. But I am saying that we all need to check our priorities and see where the family is on that list. "The family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children" (The Family: A Proclamation to the World).
Spencer W. Kimball said:

"You did not come on earth just to “eat, drink and be merry.” You came knowing full well your responsibilities. You came to get for yourself a mortal body that could become perfected, immortalized, and you understood that you were to act in partnership with God in providing bodies for other spirits equally anxious to come to the earth for righteous purposes. And so you will not postpone parenthood. There will be rationalists who will name to you numerous reasons for postponement. Of course, it will be harder to get your college degrees or your financial start with a family, but strength like yours will be undaunted in the face of difficult obstacles." 

     We were all so blessed to come to earth and receive bodies. But think about it, there are SO MANY people up in heaven just waiting to have the same opportunities. We have the blessing of providing that to them. We must not wait to do that. So many lives will be blessed because of our choices. I have one more quote that totally has opened up my eyes (it's pretty intense):

“There are multitudes of pure and holy spirits waiting to take tabernacles, now what is our duty?—To prepare tabernacles for them; to take a course that will not tend to drive those spirits into the families of the wicked, where they will be trained in wickedness, debauchery, and every species of crime. It is the duty of every righteous man and woman to prepare tabernacles 

for all the spirits they can.” -President Brigham Young

     Ok. This quote was a slap in the face and totally woke me up. My whole life I told myself, and everyone that asked, that I only wanted 3 or 4 kids. Why was this? Because it was convenient for me. My thoughts were that more kids would just make life more expensive, it would be more exhausting and more work, and just more people in general to take care of. Ok, HOW SELFISH IS THAT? Did you just realize that that whole statement was about ME? Well guess what, there's no "me" in family. Family is about love. Family is about sacrifice. Family is about forgetting yourself and giving your all for those you love. I'm not saying that I want a whole army of children now, but I am saying that having children is a great opportunity that God has blessed us with. These children are really His and each and every one of them deserves a body as much as we do. We can be used as an instrument in His hands and provide that for them. My mind has been changed that the amount of children I want isn't going to be JUST what I want. It'll be what the Lord wants and feels that I can handle, with my husband. Now back to the intense quote. This is something that inspired me as well. The children that I decide not to have are going to go to someone else. What if the circumstances won't be the same? What if they won't be taught the same morals and principles I plan on teaching? Our families aren't the only ones that will be affected by the choices we make. The Lord knows what's best for His children, and He will let us know what to do if we learn to rely on Him. 

     There's nothing like the joy that comes from family! I want that so badly for myself, but also for everyone else to experience. May we realign our priorities and focus on what really matters most!