What God Gave You Time For

I was reminded this weekend of a quote from a talk by Elder Neil L. Anderson about children.  He quoted these words from the blog of a Christian mother: “Motherhood is not a hobby, it is a calling.  You do not collect children because you find them cuter than stamps.  It is not something to do if you can squeeze the time in.  It is what God gave you time for.”  Surely we could say the same thing of “fatherhood,” and hearing that statement that God gave us time for children has caused me to think about the ways that I spend my time.  I think one of the greatest challenges that the active Latter-day Saint has is how to use his or her time in a very busy world with so many demands and so many good things to be involved in.  Raising children is not the only way that the Lord expects us to spend our time, but surely for those who have been given children there are few more important things than being with them. 

                We see in the scriptures the importance of spending time with and teaching our children in numerous places.  Our first parents gave us the example, with the scriptures telling us, “Adam and Eve blessed the name of God, and they made all things known unto their sons and their daughters” (Moses 5:12).  Clearly that involved a lot of time spent talking with and teaching their children.  When Brigham Young returned from all of his missionary labors abroad he was told, “Take especial care of your family from this time, henceforth and forever” (D&C 126:3).  He had been away for a long time, and now the Lord wanted him to be with his wife and children.  Alma was told to by the Spirit, “Command thy children to do good,” an invitation that he followed, spending a significant amount of time teaching Alma, Shiblon, and especially Corianton (Alma 39:12).  In a similar vein, Frederick G. Williams was chastised by the Lord with this language, “You have not taught your children light and truth, according to the commandments” (D&C 93:42).  Most importantly, when the disciples tried to reject the children that were brought to the Savior, Jesus said, “Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 19:14).  The Savior was willing to stop what he was doing to be with these children and bless them, showing us that there is value in simply spending time with children.  He showed by example again when he was with the Nephites, where “he took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them.”  There were 2500 people in the multitude, so that probably meant somewhere on the order of at least several hundred children, and He thought it was important enough to spend time individually with every one of them.  His command to the Nephites in that moment I think is the same command to us today, “Behold your little ones” (3 Nephi 17:21, 23).  Clearly from His example we learn that being with, loving, and teaching children is of upmost importance.  Adam and Eve’s first commandment regarded their bringing children into the world, and it is a command that “remains in force” for us today.  Being with them is indeed exactly what the Lord gave us time for in the first place.