O Remember, Remember

My parents gave my siblings and me a great treasure for Christmas. We each received a small leather-bound 3-ring binder with the "large and small plates" for our family. The "large plate" section of the book has records of our temporal or secular history. These include (as of right now) four archival quality compact discs of genealogy life sketches and ancestral photos.

The "small plate" section contains the sacred, spiritual records that are specific to our family. This part of the book contains a dozen or so faith-building personal stories transcribed from journals or written from memory. The small plate section is, of course, an unfinished record that will be added upon over the years.

This gift from my parents comes at an interesting time for me. I have, for about four months, felt a strong compulsion to record my own personal and family history in a more meaningful way. I think it has something to do with the new Relief Society book, Daughters in My Kingdom, and its emphasis on the organization's history. An understanding of where we came from, and who has gone before really can be an inspiration for good. I think it has something to do with the talk from David A. Bednar in the October 2011 General Conference, "The Hearts of the Children Shall Turn". I heard and felt in that particular talk my marching orders in regards to how I can bless my children. I think it has something to do with having a child and feeling a responsibility to the next generation.

Henry B. Eyring gave a talk in the October 2007 General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and said the following:

When our children were very small, I started to write down a few things about what happened every day. Let me tell you how that got started. I came home late from a Church assignment. It was after dark. My father-in-law, who lived near us, surprised me as I walked toward the front door of my house. He was carrying a load of pipes over his shoulder, walking very fast and dressed in his work clothes. I knew that he had been building a system to pump water from a stream below us up to our property.

He smiled, spoke softly, and then rushed past me into the darkness to go on with his work. I took a few steps toward the house, thinking of what he was doing for us, and just as I got to the door, I heard in my mind—not in my own voice—these words: “I’m not giving you these experiences for yourself. Write them down.”

I honor my parents who have taken that thought to heart and are doing something about it. I express my gratitude to parents who have the righteous desire to inspire faith in the next generation. I thank my Father in Heaven for parents who "...talk of Christ, ...rejoice in Christ, ...[and] preach of Christ...that [we their] children may know to what source [we] may look for a remission of [our] sins" (2 Nephi 25:26).