Families Need Priority – Sunday, July 10, 1983
Personal worth can be measured by the happiness one generates in the lives of others. And the lives over which we have the most influence are those of our own family members. No joy can equal the joy which comes from being part of a successful family, from building strong relationships and a concept of togetherness, from the feeling that family members belong to each other.
The summer season offers an excellent opportunity for a family tune-up—to see that the family unit is running smoothly.
No family is perfect, but some parents and children seem closer, more cooperative and happier than others. When the family has high priority, there seems to be a deeper sense of warmth and good feeling among family members, a harmony and oneness of purpose. There is a firm assurance that what individual members do and who they are really matter.
One of the common complaints in busy families when parents must juggle busy schedules is that there just isn’t enough time. The characteristics of these overcommitted families include a continual sense of urgency and haste, a constant feeling of frustration about not getting things done, and a gnawing desire to find a simpler life. Many families experience these feelings at one time or another, but a relentless hectic pace means it’s time for a reevaluation of priorities. It signals a need to seek more satisfaction from within the family rather than from outside activities.
In order for the family to remain strong, parents must realize that a family must be created: family units must be built: a good marriage and responsible parenthood must be worked at. They require time and attention. Some individuals put personal gratification above the human and spiritual needs of their families, but the happiness these people thought would come to them through worldly ambitions always seems to elude them.
No nation is stronger than its families. One Church leader observed that “If we poison the headwaters of humanity—the home—it is exceedingly difficult to depollute downstream.”1
The great need today is for a strong sense of family, the need to slow down and enjoy one another, a need for love at home—love between husband and wife, and between parents and children. A breakdown of love at home will bring a collapse of the family itself; and when the family goes, so goes the nation.
When we generate happiness in our homes, we increase not only the strength of the nation but our own sense of personal worth.
1 Neal A Maxwell, LDS Conference Report, October 1970 p. 97
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July 10, 1983
Broadcast Number 2,812