They Did Remember His Words

In one of the most famous passages in the Book of Mormon, Helaman said this to his sons Nephi and Lehi: “And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.” He sought earnestly to help his two sons to remember the Savior and to build their lives on Him. I was especially encouraged today as I read again their response: “And they did remember his words” (Helaman 5:12, 14). It can seem most of the time that children do not listen, and it is easy to be discouraged as parents thinking that what you try to teach them goes in one ear and out the other. This passage reminds us that a parent’s role is to testify of Jesus Christ like Helaman, and we should have faith that our children will someday remember. Alma the Younger was perhaps the best example of this. Though he perhaps gave no indication that he was even listening when his father taught him, in his moment of greatest need he described what happened, “I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world. Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me” (Alma 36:17-18). He remembered what his father had taught him about Jesus Christ. We should teach our children about the Savior so that in their moment of greatest need, they might remember and know where to turn. This is what Nephi explained, “And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins” (2 Nephi 25:26). We need to help our children know what source to turn to for forgiveness, help, and strength in this life that can be so hard.

                The Savior Himself emphasized this responsibility for parents in our dispensation. He said, “And again, inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized, that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents” (Doctrine and Covenants 68:25). We are to teach them to have faith in the Son of God, and for me I think that means that I need to more readily encourage them to trust in Him when they go through challenges. When they struggle, whether in small or big things, I should reassure them with words like Mormon to his son Moroni in their great difficulties: “My son, be faithful in Christ; and may not the things which I have written grieve thee, to weigh thee down unto death; but may Christ lift thee up, and may his sufferings and death, and the showing his body unto our fathers, and his mercy and long-suffering, and the hope of his glory and of eternal life, rest in your mind forever” (Moroni 9:25). We can testify that the Savior will help them in their trials today and we can, like Mormon, encourage them to think on Christ and have faith in Him. And even if they don’t seem to listen to us in the moment, perhaps when they are faced with great difficulties they will remember the words of their parents and say, like the stripling warriors, “We do not doubt our mothers knew it” (Alma 56:48). As much as we may want to, we cannot choose the paths our children take in this life, but we can make sure that, like these faithful sons, they know that we knew where to turn for help: Christ the Son of the living God.