BEHOLD your little ones

I've been in bed sick and resting for the past two days. Which means no church for me today :( but time to catch up on General Conference that I missed while in Michigan.

I've had many reasons to be thinking about the family over the past few weeks.  More so on the impact that we as parents have on our children and the blessings that children provide in our life. Some of my favorite quotes and thoughts from the conference...

Richard J. Maynes shared my favorite poem, The Echo by C.C. Miller, during his conference address along with this thought...

"Parents are responsible to teach their children in love and righteousness. Parents will be held accountable before the Lord in how they perform their sacred responsibilities. Parents teach their children with words and through example."

’Twas a sheep not a lamb

That strayed away in the parable Jesus told,

A grown-up sheep that strayed away

From the ninety and nine in the fold.

And why for the sheep should we seek

And earnestly hope and pray?

Because there is danger when sheep go wrong:

They lead the lambs astray.

Lambs will follow the sheep, you know,

Wherever the sheep may stray.

When sheep go wrong,

It won’t take long till the lambs are as wrong as they.

And so with the sheep we earnestly plead

For the sake of the lambs today,

For when the sheep are lost

What a terrible cost

The lambs will have to pay.

Our role as parents is SO important.   We need to be mindful of the choices that we make.  Our little ones are watching and following.

And then Sister Jean A. Stevens shared some words to a song that the children in our ward learned a few years ago and has become a favorite bedtime song of Anna's...

God gave us families

To help us become what He wants us to be—

This is how He shares His love,

For the fam’ly is of God.

(You can listen to the song here.) 

"Have some of life’s experiences taken from you the believing heart and childlike faith you once had? If so, look around at the children in your life. And then look again. They may be children in your family, across the street, or in the Primary in your ward. If we have a heart to learn and a willingness to follow the example of children, their divine attributes can hold a key to unlocking our own spiritual growth."

"It was Jesus Christ Himself who taught us to look to children as an example. The New Testament records His answer when His Apostles disputed who should be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus answered their question with a small yet powerful object lesson. He called a little child to Him and set him in the midst of them and said:

“Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

“Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3–4)."

We have SO much that we can learn from the young ones in our life. To quote from Elder Ballard's thoughts on Christ's love for the children...

“And he took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them.

“And when he had done this he wept. …

“And he spake unto the multitude, and said unto them: Behold your little ones” (3 Nephi 17:21–23).

“Notice that He didn’t say ‘glance at them’ or ‘casually observe them’ or ‘occasionally take a look in their general direction.’ He said to behold them. To me that means that we should embrace them with our eyes and with our hearts; we should see and appreciate them for who they really are: spirit children of our Heavenly Father, with divine attributes” (“Behold Your Little Ones,” Tambuli, Oct. 1994, 40; emphasis added; “Great Shall Be the Peace of Thy Children,” Ensign, Apr. 1994, 59).

I love General Conference and the gentle reminder that I've been given to love, cherish and learn from the children that I have been entrusted with.