"These, Our Little Ones"

When I put Bridger down last night, I was sitting on the bed reading and watching him sleep and thinking about how lucky I am to have two gorgeous kids! I wish I spent more time just appreciating my kids and teaching them and less time trying to just get everything done. I came across and Ensign article by President Hinckley called "These, Our Little Ones," and here are some of my favorite quotes...

"If you are worried about the future, then look to the upbringing of your children."

"E.T. Sullivan once wrote these interesting words: 'When God wants a great work done in the world or a great wrong righted, he goes about it in a very unusual way. He doesn't stir up his earthquakes or send forth his thunderbolts. Instead, he has a helpless baby born, perhaps in a simple home and of some obscure mother. And then God puts the idea in the mother's heart, and she puts it in the baby's mind. And then God waits. The greatest forces in the world are not the earthquakes or the thunderbolts. The greatest forces in the world are babies.' And these babies, I should like to add, will become forces for good or ill, depending in large measure on how they are reared. The Lord, without equivocation, has declared, 'I have commanded you to bring up your children in light and truth.' (D&C 93:40)"

"1. Love them
2. Teach them
3. Respect them
4. Pray with them and for them"

"Do you want a spirit of love to grow in the world? Then begin within the walls of your own home. Behold your little ones, and see within them the wonders of God, from whose presence they have recently come."

"While they are young, pray with them that they may know the source of strength which shall then always be available in every hour of need."


"How much more beautiful would the world be and the society in which we live if every father looked upon his children as the most precious of his assets, if he led them by the power of his example in kindness and love, and if in times of stress he blessed them by the authority of the holy priesthood; and if every mother regarded her children as the jewels of her life, as gifts from the God of heaven, who is their Eternal Father, and brought them up with true affection and admonition of the Lord."