Many decades ago, on quiet mornings before school and work, a sleepy young family used to gather in the living room of their modest home to read scriptures, pray, and talk about eternal things. Today the children, now well into middle age, vividly remember how their father would pull out a large, flattened cardboard box on which he had written some inspirational words of the Savior. During those early mornings, from this makeshift poster, the family would read and reflect on such life-changing truths as these:
“Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God” (Matthew 5:5–9).
These simple statements are known as the “Beatitudes,” a term that comes from a Latin word meaning “happiness.” In other words, happiness—true happiness—comes to those who are meek, who seek goodness, who are merciful, who are pure in heart, who make peace. So different from the world’s formula for happiness, these words, and many others like them throughout the scriptures, point us beyond the temporary pleasures of this life toward lasting joy.
Blessed indeed are those who read, ponder, and live by words like these. What more valuable gift can parents give their children than those simple moments—early in the morning and all throughout the day—when the timeless truths in the scriptures become part of the family’s everyday life?
Such moments are a modern application of the counsel given through Moses long ago: “And thou shalt teach [the word of God] diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up” (Deuteronomy 6:7).
Thousands of years after these words were spoken, wise parents still gather their children around them to share those things that matter most. First thing in the morning, during a family meal, or just before bedtime—whenever it happens, families who have such experiences are truly happy and blessed.
-Lloyd D. Newell
Oct. 4, 2015
Broadcast Number 4,490
Mormon Tabernacle Choir
Conductor
Mack Wilberg
Organist
Richard Elliott
Host
Lloyd Newell
Come, Ye Children of the Lord
Spanish melody; arr. Ryan Murphy
Children of Our Heavenly Father
Swedish melody; arr. Mack Wilberg
How Firm a Foundation
J. Ellis; arr. Richard Elliott
He, Watching Over Israel, from Elijah
Felix Mendelssohn
Teach Me to Walk in the Light
Clara W. McMaster; arr. Mack Wilberg
From All That Dwell Below the Skies
John Hatton; arr. Mack Wilberg