Today, I want to talk about This sentence:

Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities.



In paragraph seven of The Family: A Proclamation to the World.I love this paragraph because it is the paragraph that tells us what to do. Most of the Proclamation tells us who we are in relationship to God. That is very important to know. The seventh paragraph tells us what we need to be a forever family.

What to do:

1. Have faith: in Alma 32:21 it states  And now as I said concerning faith, faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true. Since becoming a mother, I have wondered how could I ever have done this without faith. Faith is a driver behind all that we do as a family that is good. I have my large family because of faith. We go to church because of faith. We are kind, and we are trying to have charity because of faith. Family life is amazing, but it is made amazing because of the faith that if we keep the commandments that God has given to his children our lives will be blessed. We have seen this again and again in our family. It is also amazing because of the faith that when we do keep the commandments, we are working toward keeping these amazing family relationships forever.
2. Prayers: We feel closer to each other and closer to God when we pray as a family. We also receive revelation together as a family for the family when we prayer together. I receive patience to deal will all of the little irritating things that pop up through the day only as I pray and ask for it. Yes, prayer helps our family know what to do, and it helps us to act how we should. We need our Heavenly Father, and we find Him together as a family through prayer.
3. Repentance: I think one of the best things John and I have done as parents is apologizing continually to our children when we make mistakes. We apologize when we lose out temper or are impatient or were just wrong about something. It helps all of us to be more humble and to forgive more easily.
4. Forgiveness: Any family can not survive without forgiveness. We must allow for the faults of others in our family, and we must lovingly let things pass everyday. Where there is no forgiveness there is no love.
5. Respect: I am not sure I understand respect very well. There is some sense where we give up on some things we want because we love the other person, and there is admiration for the person who has done a lot for you.
6. Love: love comes through service. We love those we serve and in turn they love us. Love also comes from knowing someone intimately. We love our families when we spend a lot time with them.
7. Compassion: I think this goes along with service too. For a family to be close we must be there for each other when times are tough for an individual in the family. After, I had my eighth baby my mother in law and sister in laws came to my home unannounced and cooked and cleaned, and filled our pantry. They recognized a need, felt compassion, and acted. That is necessary in everyday family life. It helps me not get upset with my 13 year old for spending an hour locked in the bathroom.
8. Work: I like this one. My kids often hear me say that we can't be happy without work. I am that freaky kind of person that cleans and cleans when I am stressed. I develop confidence and I find peace when I work, and I notice the same for my kids. Working together and developing that confidence and that marvelous sense of a a job well done has a very binding effect.
9. Wholesome Recreational Activities: This has got to be everyone's favorite part of being a family. This is where traditions and memories are formed. My kids favorite memories come from vacations we have taken, and day trips and holidays with lots of junk food. I love how John's family gets together all of the time to hang out and eat and play games. John's siblings are so close. They worked together and played together a lot as children and they still work together and play together a lot as adults. I want that for my children too. I have also learned that wholesome recreational activities come at a cost to the mother. They create a lot more work than ordinary life. There are plans to be made, extra food to be made and all of the cleanup. This tends to fall on the mother. But it is so worth it for the closeness it creates and the traditions it makes.

I am grateful for inspired prophets and apostles that tell us what we need for a heavenly home.