Supporting Families across Generations
“Extended families should lend
support when needed.” The Family:
A Proclamation To The World (September 1995)
(Richard
B. Miller, Ron Cook, and Jeremy B. Yorgason, 2012, p.177 Successful Marriages
and Families)
I grew up watching my mom serving
her parents, siblings, friends and neighbours. I have a clear understanding of
what it means to support extended family members. To me, this means everyone
not just those who are related to you. It is important to remember family. Our
grandparents have paid the way for us and serving them is showing gratitude for
the love and sacrifice they gave to us.
Service to extended family may not
be obvious or easy to give. The opportunity to offer support is also an
opportunity to develop charity.
Charity is the pure
love of Christ. It is the love that Christ has for the children of
men and that the children of men should have for one another. It is the
highest, noblest, and strongest kind of love and the most joyous to the soul (1 Nephi 11:23).
Both of my parents supported me when
I was a single mom. My dad would tend to my children, take them to the bus
stop, pull them on the sleigh up a huge hill watch them slide down the hill and
pull them up again, read to them, cut up fruit and meat in tiny bite size
pieces to make sure they wouldn’t choke, go on long walks and watch movies
together. My mom would let the kid’s use their imaginations by letting them
play where ever and how they wanted. It didn’t matter that the house was a
disaster, bake with them, sing fun songs to them, and often give gifts that
only they would love. I am forever grateful for the service and support my parents
gave to my family and me.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell called
grandparents the “strategic reserve” in extended families. (1997, p.146) (Richard
B. Miller, Ron Cook, and Jeremy B. Yorgason, 2012, p.178 Successful Marriages
and Families)
President Ezra Taft Benson (1989,pp 6,7)
said,
“We encourage families to give their elderly parents
and grandparent the love, care, and attention they deserve. Let us remember the
scriptural command that we must care for those of our own house lest we be
found “worse than an infidel” (I Timothy 5:8)….If they become less able to live
independently, then family, Church, and community resources may be needed to
help them. When the elderly become unable to care for themselves, even with the
supplemental aid, care can be provided in the home of a family member when
possible.” (Richard B. Miller, Ron Cook, and Jeremy B. Yorgason, 2012, p.178
Successful Marriages and Families)
A New Significance to Honoring
“Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long
upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee” (Ex. 20:12).
This is one of the commandments
given through Moses to the children of Israel as they
wandered through the Sinai Desert. It is still as much a commandment today as
it was when given more than three thousand years ago. However, honoring our
parents takes on new significance and meaning with more people living beyond
age sixty-five (the normal retirement age in many countries), who, because of
physical disabilities associated with advanced age, will need part-time or
full-time care from family members. (Ensign September 1995 Taking Care of Mom and
Dad) https://www.lds.org/ensign/1995/09/taking-care-of-mom-and-dad?lang=eng
