Family Gems: Parents Have a Sacred Trust to Raise Heavenly Father’s Children

Gems on the Family
Parents Have a Sacred Trust to Raise Heavenly Father’s Children
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“Every human being is a spirit child of God and lived with Heavenly Father before coming to earth. He entrusts his spirit children to earthly parents who provide a mortal body for them through the miracle of physical birth and gives to parents the sacred opportunity and responsibility to love, protect, teach, and to bring them up in light and truth so they may one day, through the atonement and resurrection of Jesus Christ, return to our Father’s presence.

“These precious souls come to us in purity and innocence. As parents, we assume an immense responsibility for their care and well-being. Parents share this sacred trust with brothers and sisters, grandparents, teachers, neighbors, and all who touch the lives and impress or influence the souls of these precious children. King Benjamin admonished parents many years ago, ‘But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another.’ (Mosiah 4:15.)”

Topics: parents, children, teaching

(M. Russell Ballard, “Teach the Children,” Ensign, May 1991, 78)