This weekend we'll be celebrating with family and extended family the 50th Wedding anniversary of my in laws. The kids under 12 will stay together at my wife's brothers place on Saturday and then; All of the grandkids over age 12 will do baptisms for the dead and all of the endowed adults will do an endowment session together with family names. We'll all be going out to dinner at a big family restaurant after. Imagine how happy my in-laws are that all of their children and grandchildren are worthy to enter the House of the Lord.
As I look at their life of service in the Church and Kingdom of God and the lives of their children and grandchildren I remember the scriptures found in 2nd Nephi and Mosiah
"And it came to pass that we lived after the manner of happiness."
" the time passed away with us, and also our lives passed away like as it were unto us a dream "
"And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it."
I really don 't know how life could get any better. The 20 years we have been married have been some of the happiest years of our lives. She is my forever lover and I can't imagine life without her. Of course we have had our challenges and our trials but the Lord has been so good to us and has blessed us so very much.
I hope that our next 30 years can be as happy and wonderful as the lives of my in laws. All of the grandsons that have arrived to age 19 have served missions. All of the children and grandchildren have married in the Temple. There have been no divorces in either my wife's family or my family.
Living the gospel of Jesus Christ has brought us such great happiness. As God has revealed His will in our lives, as He has allowed us to "see" things as they really are, as we have come to know Our Savior and feel of His love and as we have shared that message with others our lives have been truly blessed.
Sure we live throught the trials, heartaches and hardships that comes in the natural order of this testing period we call life -- it's the only way that we can grow and develop into the Sons and Daughters of God that He expects us to. But through it all, I can't imagine how life could get any better.
M
-- Edited by Mahonri at 23:41, 2007-03-22
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no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing... the truth of God will go forth till it has penetrated every website, sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the great Jehovah shall say the work is done
Folks should never take for granted having multiple generations of the extended family living and loving one another, and for there to be no large degree of anyone struggling with or turning from the simple truths of the Gospel.
I am happy for you.
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
There is a point in the film "City Slickers" that has always bothered me. At one point a philanderer who recently got married is talking about extra-marital affairs with his friends. He contrasts philandering and getting married by talking about the difference between eating out of the kellog's variety pack of cereal and then, suddenly, choosing just one cereal and sticking with that and only that. What bothers me about the example he used is that it assumes that it is so extremely shallow. Marriage, if you learn to communicate and work together, is a constant voyage of discovery. You learn more about each other constantly. You grow together, and get closer through shared triumphs and trials. Even your sexual relations get better as you grow closer together. So, to reference the city slickers example, it would be more like finding new tastes, textures, and aromas in your cereal every morning, even though you've been having the same cereal for years.
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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! - Samuel Adams
Yes, that's a marvelous thing to come to your 50th anniversary and look back and see the fruits of your labors. What a truly wonderful celebration. Many of the prophets in the scriptures didn't even have all their children stay with the Gospel.
-- Edited by Cocobeem at 11:58, 2007-03-23
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Life is tough but it's tougher if you're stupid. -John Wayne
Last night my wife's neice received her endowments and it was a wonderful thing. Sweetie and I were asked to be the witness couple (third time in a row - who said lighting doesn't strike three times in the same place?) and it was a great evening. It was the first time our son #1 went through for someone else.
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no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing... the truth of God will go forth till it has penetrated every website, sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the great Jehovah shall say the work is done
When my fiance and I started dating, we would notice at least every week that we had a whole lot of fun the week before, and felt like we were learning so much, and then we totally surpassed it the next week. It's not that we plan it or anything, it just happens. Every week is better than the last, no matter what events go on.
The best part about looking toward a marriage is that life just continuously gets better, and as long as we stay on a righteous path, our trials can become great learning experiences. I guess it just gives us so much hope for the future. I mean, life really does just keep getting better. Just look at how happy President Hinckley is!
p.s. I'm so excited to receive my endowment! My mom even bought me some books to read and I get to go to temple prep class now....life is great!
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Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you.
— Oscar Wilde
