Week 35: Teach Them to Understand

Hello Friends,


I love the new start we get at the end of summer as we begin a new year of school and schedules. I often feel more energized to make changes and improvements in my life at this time than in the cold and dreariness of January. I discovered this gem by Elder Bednar and hope it will be as inspiriing and insightful for you as it has been for me. I am grateful for Elder Bednar's gifts as a teacher, a preacher really, as you will see by this devotional talk he gave in 1998 at the Ricks College Education Week.

His teaching has caused me to consider what I might do to better create an environment where we as parents invite the Spirit into our home. The Spirit is the master teacher for our children.Elder Bednar teaches that in our homes, we cannot hide from who we really are. This produces a desire for us to be better. Within a Christ-centered home, love, trust, and confidence invite the Spirit of the Holy Ghost. He explains that as children truly understand, action will follow. This will not be out of a desire to please us or stay out of trouble, but motivated by a desire to obtain promised blessings and fulfill pre-ordained missions. Why do we teach of the necessity of daily pray and scripture reading? Not to mark off our to do list, but to invite the Spirit and put us in a position to receive the daily revelation necessary for us to thrive each day in the world in which we live. His question to parents of "Please help me understand what it is in your life that is so important that you cannot make time for these spiritually essential activities" is still working in me as I plan and ponder and clear schedules to create the time we must have together as a family.

Enjoy! Love and Blessings to each of you as we begin a new Season,

Teach Them to Understand

David A. Bednar

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