Family: The Eternal Perspective -by John Groberg

This assignment was to read a talk by Elder John Groberg.  If the name sounds familiar, that is because the movie "The Other Side of Heaven," was based off of his mission in Tonga.  I got to go to a fireside where he and his wife Jean spoke to us, and it was an experience I will never forget.  I remember going home from it, and wanting to be as faithful as he and his wife were.  And that I would be able to listen to the Spirit as well as they did, and face adversity with such strength.  
     Well, here is another lesson from Elder Groberg.  He wrote a talk entitled "Family the Eternal Perspective."  What a great talk.  If you can ever find a way to read it I highly recommend it.  I would just post it here, but it is way too lengthy, and this book is about what I remembered, not the article itself.
   So here is what I learned from this talk.   The first thing that I want to write about was something he said on page 3.  "A veil of forgetfulness was drawn over us so that we could better learn by faith…but we did not forget everything.  Deep inside of us is an intense longing to experience the same joy, love and security in our earthly family that we enjoyed in our Heavenly Family."  The truthfulness in this is clear.  We did forget everything, but we still are able to remember the feelings of joy, love, and security within a family.  We each yearn for these feelings, which may be the reason why family conflicts hurt so much.  Families are the most important thing that we have and through Elder Groberg's talk I can understand even more why this is so.  Families are bound together so that as Elder Groberg said, we can create our own eternal families.  And what more can we have for eternity that is more precious to us than our families? 

     I think one reason the family bond is such a strong one is because we are able to give family members things that nobody else can.  Elder Groberg said on pg. 14 that "We are here to do things for others that they cannot do for themselves, such as vicarious temple ordinances and having children."  Our ancestors cannot make sacred covenants with the Lord by themselves.  They need us to do it.  Our posterity cannot receive a body without us giving them one.  It takes a husband and a wife to create a child, they cannot give themselves life.  These are things that are similar to Christ's atonement.  We cannot give ourselves eternal life and exaltation, but Christ can.  He has made all things possible for us to live in eternal families, and for that we are eternally blessed.  Thus we must pass on these eternal blessings and do that for our ancestors, and posterity, that which they cannot do.