As we look into the eyes of a child, we see a fellow son or
daughter of God who stood with us in the premortal life.
It is a crowning privilege of a husband and wife who are
able to bear children to provide mortal bodies for
these spirit children of God.
We believe in families, and we believe in children.
When a child is born to a husband and wife, they are
fulfilling part of our Heavenly Father's plan to
bring children to earth.
The Lord said, "This is my work and my glory, to bring to
pass the immortality and eternal life of man." Before
immortality, there must be mortality.
The family is ordained of God.
Families are central to our Heavenly Father's plan here on
earth and through the eternities.
After joining Adam and Eve in marriage, the scripture reads,
"And God blessed them.
And God said unto them, be fruitful and multiply and
replenish the earth."
In our day, prophets and apostles have declared the
first commandment that God gave Adam and Eve pertained to
their potential for parenthood as husband and wife.
We declare that God's commandment for His children
to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force.
This commandment has not been forgotten or set aside in The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
We express deep gratitude for the enormous faith shown by
husbands and wives, especially our wives, in their
willingness to have children.
When to have a child and how many children to have are
private decisions to be made between a husband and
wife and the Lord.
These are sacred decisions, decisions that should be made
with sincere prayer and acted on with great faith.
Years ago, Elder James O. Mason of the Seventy shared
this story with me.
"The birth of our sixth child was an unforgettable
experience.
As I gazed on this beautiful, new daughter in the nursery
just moments after her birth, I distinctly heard a voice
declare, 'There will yet be another.
And it will be a boy.' Unwisely, I rushed back to the
bedside of my absolutely exhausted wife and told her
the
good news." [LAUGHTER]
"It was very bad timing
on my part." [LAUGHTER]
Year after year, the Masons anticipated the arrival of
their seventh child.
Three, four, five, six, seven years passed.
Finally, after eight years, the seventh child was born, a
little boy.
Here they are, 37 years later.
Last April, President Thomas S. Monson declared, "Where
once the standards of the Church and the standards of
society were mostly compatible, now there is a
wide chasm between us, and it's growing ever wider.
The Savior of mankind described Himself as being in
the world but not of the world.
We also can be in the world but not of the world as we
reject false concepts and false teachings and remain
true to that which God has commanded."
Many voices in the world today marginalize the importance of
having children or suggest delaying or limiting children
in a family.
My daughters recently referred me to a blog written by a
Christian mother not of our faith with five children.
She commented, "Growing up in this culture, it is very hard
to get a biblical perspective on motherhood.
Children rank way below college, below world travel
for sure, below the ability to go out at night at your
leisure, below honing your body at the gym, below any job
you may have or hope to get."
She then adds, "Motherhood is not a hobby; it is a calling.
You do not collect children because you find them cuter
than stamps.
It's not something you do if you can squeeze the time in.
It is what God gave you time for."
Having young children is not easy.
Many days are just difficult.
A young mother got on a bus with seven children.
The bus driver asked, "Are these all yours, lady?
Or is
it a picnic?" [LAUGHTER]
"They're all mine," she replied, "and
it's no picnic." [LAUGHTER]
As the world increasingly asks, "Are these all yours?" we thank
you for creating within the Church a sanctuary for
families where we honor and help mothers with children.
To a righteous father, there are no words sufficient to
express the gratitude and love he feels for his wife's
incalculable gift of bearing and caring for their children.
Elder Mason had another experience just weeks after
his marriage that helped him prioritize his family
responsibilities.
He said, "Marie and I had rationalized that, to get me
through medical school, it would be necessary for her to
remain in the workplace.
Although this was not what we wanted to do, children would
have to come later.
While looking at a Church magazine at my parents' home, I
saw an article by Elder Spencer W. Kimball, then of
the Quorum of the Twelve, highlighting responsibilities
associated with marriage.
According to Elder Kimball, one sacred responsibility was
to multiply and replenish the earth.
My parent's home was close to the Church
Administration Building.
I immediately walked to the offices.
And 30 minutes after reading his article, I found myself
sitting across the desk from Elder Spencer W. Kimball."
This wouldn't be so easy today.
[LAUGHTER]
"I explained that I wanted to become a doctor.
There was no alternative but to postpone having our family.
Elder Kimball listened patiently and then responded
in a soft voice, 'Brother Mason, would the Lord want you
to break one of His important commandments in order for you
to become a doctor?
With the help of the Lord, you can have your family and still
become a doctor.
Where is your faith?'
Elder Mason continued, "Our first child was born less than
a year later.
(LAUGHS)
[LAUGHTER]
"Marie and I worked hard, and the Lord opened the windows of
heaven." The Masons were blessed with two more children
before he graduated from medical
school four years later.
Across the world, this is a time of economic instability
and financial uncertainty.
In April general conference President Thomas S. Monson
said, "If you are concerned about providing financially
for a wife and family, may I assure you that there is no
shame in a couple having to scrimp and save. It is
generally during these challenging times that you
will grow closer together as you learn to sacrifice and to
make difficult decisions."
Elder Kimball's piercing question, "Where is your
faith?" turns us to the holy scriptures.
It was not in the Garden of Eden that Adam and Eve bore
their first child.
Leaving the garden, Adam and Eve began to till the earth.
Adam knew his wife and she bore sons and daughters.
And acting in faith, they began to multiply and
replenish the earth.
It was not in their Jerusalem home with gold, silver, and
precious things that Lehi and Sariah, acting in faith, bore
their sons Jacob and Joseph. It was in the wilderness.
Lehi spoke of his son Jacob as, "my first-born in the days
of my tribulation in the wilderness." Lehi said of
Joseph, "Thou wast born in the wilderness of our afflictions.
Yea, in the days of our greatest sorrow did thy mother
bear thee."
In the book of Exodus, a man and a woman married and,
acting in faith, had a baby boy.
There was no welcoming sign on the front door to
announce his birth.
They hid him because Pharaoh had instructed that every
newborn male Israelite should be cast into the river.
You know the rest of the story: the baby lovingly laid
on a little ark made of bulrushes, placed in the river,
watched over by his sister, found by Pharaoh's daughter
and cared for by his own mother as his nurse.
The boy was returned to Pharaoh's daughter, who took
him as her son and called him Moses.
In the most beloved story of a baby's birth, there was no
decorated nursery or designer crib, only a manger for the
Savior of the world.
In the best of times and the worst of times, the true
Saints of God, acting in faith, have never forgotten,
dismissed, or neglected God's commandment to multiply and
replenish the earth.
We go forward in faith, realizing the decision of how
many children to have and when to have them is between a
husband and wife and the Lord.
We should not judge one another on this matter.
The bearing of children is a sensitive subject that can be
very painful for righteous women who do not have the
opportunity to marry and have a family.
To you noble women, our heavenly Father knows your
prayers and desires.
How grateful we are for your remarkable influence,
including reaching out with loving arms to children who
need your faith and strength.
The bearing of children can also be a heartbreaking
subject for righteous couples who marry and find that they
are unable to have the children they so anxiously
anticipated or for a husband and wife who planned on having
a large family but are blessed with a smaller family.
We cannot always explain the difficulties of our mortality.
Sometimes life seems very unfair, especially when our
greatest desire is to do exactly what
the Lord has commanded.
As the Lord's servant, I assure you that this promise
is certain.
Faithful members whose circumstances do not allow
them to receive the blessings of eternal marriage and
parenthood in this life will receive all promised blessings
in the eternities as they keep the covenants they
have made with God.
President J. Scott Dorius of the Peru Lima West Mission
told me their story.
He said: "Becky and I were married for 25 years without
being able to have or adopt children.
We moved several times.
Introducing ourselves in each new setting was awkward and
sometimes painful.
Ward members wondered why we didn't have children.
They weren't the only ones wondering."
When I was called as a bishop, ward members expressed
concern that I did not have any experience with children
and teenagers.
I thanked them for their sustaining vote and asked them
to allow me to practice my child-raising skills on their
children."
[LAUGHTER]
"They lovingly obliged.
We waited, gained perspective, and learned patience.
After 25 years of marriage, a miracle baby
came into our lives.
We adopted two-year-old Nicole and then newborn Nikolai.
Strangers now compliment us on our beautiful
grandchildren. [LAUGHTER]
We laugh and say, 'They are our children.
We have lived our lives backwards.'"
Brothers and sisters, we should not be judgmental with
one another in this sacred and private responsibility.
"And Jesus took a child in his arms and said, Whosoever shall
receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me.
And whosoever receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me."
What a wonderful blessing we have to receive sons and
daughters of God into our homes.
Let us humbly and prayerfully seek to understand and accept
God's commandments, reverently listening for the voice of His
Holy Spirit.
Families are central to God's eternal plan.
I testify of the great blessing of children and of
the happiness they will bring us in this life and in the
eternities.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Amen.