Feb. 2012 - What More Could I Have Done?

The Scriptures are full of parenting points. When you read your scriptures each day you should watch specifically for what you can learn about parenting. You will find something pretty much every time. I have been studying the allegory of the tame and wild olive trees in Jacob 5. On page 129 the Lord asks repeatedly, "What more could I have done? Have I slackened mine hand? What could I have done more?" You can almost hear the pain and pleading in His voice. Parenting is hard. It is not, and will never be, pain free. When you sign on to be a parent, you sign on for a life time of hope, of joy, of new experiences and, yes, sometimes of pain. Pain for the child and pain because of the child. What I want you to learn from this specific scriptural example is that the Lord can ask, What more could I have done? and know that there really was nothing more that He could have done. The hardest part of getting older is realizing all the things I should have done that I did not do. And ALL of those things that bother me most pertain to family. I should have prioritized my life much more around teaching my family spiritually. I should have been more diligent in holding FHE, studying scriptures with them (and myself), having family prayer. I should have been a better example. I should have shown more love. I should have!!! However, I also know that we are mortal and we cannot do all things - it is not possible. And so, perhaps I can say "I tried my hardest under the circumstances I was in. I could not have done more at that time under those circumstances." I want you to live now so that you are able to say that later. Just like nations, our children have their agency. They choose their course. Our greatest prayers and hopes are that they will choose righteously. But we must live and teach in our families such that we give them every possible chance to choose that good path.