Sunday, June 19, 2016

Fathers

"I speak today of fathers. Fathers are fundamental in the divine plan of happiness, and I want to raise a voice of encouragement for those who are striving to fill well that calling. To praise and encourage fatherhood and fathers is not to shame or discount anyone. I simply focus today on the good that men can do in the highest of masculine roles—husband and father.

David Blankenhorn, the author of Fatherless America, has observed: “Today, American society is fundamentally divided and ambivalent about the fatherhood idea. Some people do not even remember it. Others are offended by it. Others, including more than a few family scholars, neglect it or disdain it. Many others are not especially opposed to it, nor are they especially committed to it. Many people wish we could act on it, but believe that our society simply no longer can or will." Elder D. Todd Christofferson


I believe in fathers. Both Kyle and I were so tremendously blessed to have fathers who magnified that special, unique, and irreplaceable calling. They were present. They loved. They taught. They protected. They provided. We love them dearly and more than our words here can adequately express. 


With all the TERRIBLE in the world, I am often left to think "What. Is. Happening? What in the world is happening to our world..." As I contemplate this question, what seems day after day, as more and more, "terrible" happens, my mind comes back to one thing: FATHERS.


The world needs families. They need mothers, too. But, MAN do we need fathers. We need fathers like Jeff Burnham. We need fathers like Charley Brown. We need MEN who support, teach, and guide their children. We need men who teach morals and principles. We need men who can be role models for their children. Ones that are worth looking up to. Surely, every man, every father, is a role model for their child, but are they, are you, a good one? We need men who step up to the plate. 


When I see a college kid who rapes an unconscious girl or a person who shoots into a crowded club I can't help but think: What if Jeff Burnham had been their father?


The power over good and evil is not held in rank. It is not held in government. It is not held in schools. 



The power is in the influence.

The influence is with the mothers. The influence is with the fathers. I'm forever grateful for mine. 






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