Our Legacy

Elder Carlos A. Godoy spoke in the most recent general conference about how our choices affect our posterity. He commented, “It is so sad when we come across inactive members or nonmembers of the Church who at one time had the gospel within their families and lost it because of their parents’ or grandparents’ decision to take a break from the Church. That decision could have an impact on their posterity forever! Their children and grandchildren have been precluded from the protection and the blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives. Even more heartbreaking, they have lost the promises of an eternal family which were there one day. The decision of one has impacted a whole chain of descendants. A legacy of faith has been broken.” He quoted President Oaks’ who also spoke about making decisions with an understanding of where they would lead in the long run: “We all know persons who are concerned only with the present: spend it today, enjoy it today, and take no thought for the future.… As we make current decisions, we should always be asking, ‘Where will this lead?’” We need to consider not just present circumstances but also the long-term consequences of the choices that we make. And, in particular, we need to consider the effect of our actions on our posterity. This is something that Laman and Lemuel, for example, did not do. They thought only of themselves as they fought against Nephi and their father and the Lord’s commandments, and ultimately they became separated from the light of the gospel. Their children and posterity lost for hundreds of years the knowledge of the truth and the blessings of the Lord. Those descendants became bitter enemies to the Nephites because of what Laman, Lemuel, and the sons of Ishmael taught them: “Thus they have taught their children that they should hate them, and that they should murder them, and that they should rob and plunder them, and do all they could to destroy them; therefore they have an eternal hatred towards the children of Nephi” (Mosiah 10:17). That is not the legacy that we want to leave for our posterity—we must see better where our choices will lead and provide a future in the gospel covenant for them.

                This reminds me of a talk that Elder Holland gave two decades ago with a similar theme. He recounted, “Not long ago Sister Holland and I met a fine young man who came in contact with us after he had been roaming around through the occult and sorting through a variety of Eastern religions, all in an attempt to find religious faith. His father, he admitted, believed in nothing whatsoever. But his grandfather, he said, was actually a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. ‘But he didn’t do much with it,’ the young man said. ‘He was always pretty cynical about the Church.’ From a grandfather who is cynical to a son who is agnostic to a grandson who is now looking desperately for what God had already once given his family!” That grandfather didn’t understand or consider how his actions would affect his posterity in the long run. The same was perhaps true of Laban, the father of Rachel and Leah in the Old Testament. He tricked Jacob on the night he was to receive Rachel as his wife and gave him Leah instead. The next morning Jacob said to Laban, “What is this thou hast done unto me? did not I serve with thee for Rachel? wherefore then hast thou beguiled me?” (Genesis 29:25) Speaking of the serious problems that existed later among the sons of Jacob, S. Michael Wilcox commented, “When does Joseph's problem start? When does this family become, in a modern term, somewhat dysfunctional? Jacob's family is a somewhat dysfunctional family. Who starts the problem with Joseph and his brothers? It has not started when he gets the coat of many colors. It started by Laban. Grandpa starts the problems. And how does grandpa start the problems? Grandpa sneaks Leah into the wedding bed when Jacob is expecting Rachel, and that sets up a conflict that Joseph and his brothers will grow up in this family tension.” The misdeed of Laban led to generations of conflict among his posterity; surely Laban did not ask himself where his choices regarding Leah, Rachel, and Jacob would lead.     

                Elder Godoy summarized his message in these words, “You know there is a plan for us in this life. You know that families can be eternal. Why put yours at risk? Don’t be the weak link in this beautiful chain of faith you started, or you received, as a legacy. Be the strong one. It is your turn to do it, and the Lord can help you.” The important message for us is that we need to consider how all of our choices will affect our children and posterity in the long run. Are we creating future tension amongst our children by the decisions we make now or the way we are raising them? Are we leading them to make the gospel of Jesus Christ the most important thing in their lives or is something else the real focus? Are we giving them an “example of the believers” to follow, or are do we “undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to exercise control or dominion” in an unrighteous way? (1 Timothy 4:12, Doctrine and Covenants 121:37). Elder Godoy’s message encourages us all to consider what legacy we are leaving day after day upon them.