Doctrines of Eternal Marriage, Week 3

A covenant marriage is such a blessing.  In a covenant
marriage, Elder Bruce C. Hafen says that “When
trouble comes, the husband and wife work them
through. They marry to give and to grow, bound by
covenants to each other, to the community, and to
God. Contract companions each give 50%; covenant
companions each give 100%.” I can’t think of a better
commitment than to give 100% in every aspect of a
marriage. If both companions are doing this, each will
be happy.

I also thought a lot about what President Benson said.
“The temple is an ever-present reminder that God

intends the family to be eternal. How fitting it is for
mothers and fathers to point to the temple and say
to their children, “That this is the place where we were married for eternity.” By doing so, the ideal temple
marriage can be instilled within the minds and hearts of your children while very young.” I know that my
children are very aware that my husband and I go to the temple often. We talk with them often about the
temple, and they know that it is a special place to go and that it is often our “date nights!” Going to the temple
often is a great strength to my husband and I in our marriage. I can remember my parents going often to the
temple. It was a great example to me of the importance of the temple.

                          
President Benson also said, “When our children obey the Lord and go to the temple to receive their blessings
and enter into the marriage covenant, they enter into the same order of the priesthood that God instituted in the
very beginning with father Adam.” It is important for our children to know that the very priesthood their dad
holds, is the same priesthood that Adam had! As Elder Benson mentioned, the blessings of the temple are
wonderful and our kids should be aware of them. Some listed by President Benson are: receive the spirit of
Elijah, love your family deeper, endowed with power form on high, and receive the key of the knowledge of
God.

Elder Bednar said, in talking of The Family: A Proclamation to the World, “Righteous marriage is a
commandment and an essential step in the process of creating a loving family relationship that can be
perpetuated beyond the grave.” My goal is not temporal satisfaction, but to create a righteous family that I
can be with forever.
                       

In Elder Hafen’s talk, Covenant Marriage, he talks about three “wolves” that every marriage is tested by.
They are natural adversity, their own imperfections, and excessive individualism. In my opinion, excessive
individualism greatly plagues the earth and is detrimental to our society. Satan would have us believe that
everything is about “me.” He would have us separate ourselves from family, from eternal doctrine, and make
people believe that everyone should be and do what makes them happy, rather than following the
commandments of God. Elder Hafen also says, “The adversary has long cultivated this overemphasis on
personal autonomy. He drives us away from each other today with wedges of distrust and suspicion. He
exaggerates the need for having space, getting out, and being left alone.” Once Satan has gotten in a corner,
separated from everyone else, he has greater power of influence to attack our weaknesses.

                                                        

In President Joseph Fielding Smith’s talk, Fullness of the 
Priesthood, he made a lot of great points about
the importance of the priesthood. I don’t know that I learned
anything new, but something that stuck out to
me was this quote. “There is no exaltation in the kingdom of God
without the fullness of the priesthood.” Our covenants that we need
to make to return to Heavenly Father are not
 possible without the priesthood. The
priesthood, the power of God, makes it possible for us to
enter into such covenants with our Heavenly Father.

I also really liked when he said: “The Lord offers to his daughters every spiritual gift and blessing that can be
obtained by his sons, for neither is the man without the woman, nor the woman without that man in the Lord.”
So often, especially in today’s world, women get caught up in the fact that they don’t have the priesthood.
Women have such special gifts, and the special gifts given to men and women help each other to be better.
Elder Bednar said, “Because of their distinctive temperaments and capacities, males and females each bring
to a marriage relationship unique perspectives and experiences. The man and the woman contribute differently
but equally to a oneness and a unity that can be achieved in no other way. The man completes and perfects
the woman, and the woman completes and perfects the man.”