Nurture the Rising Generation

Given as a talk in Church October, 2009

To Nurture is to nourish. To nourish is to feed or sustain with substances necessary to life and growth. Nurturing also includes teaching, or spiritual and mental nourishment. So, by the same token, the spiritual, mental nourishment ought to be those spiritual substances necessary to spiritual and mental life and growth. I begin my talk with a definition of this word so that the meaning may be clear as I talk about some of the ways in which we might nurture or nourish the rising generation. I would like to share a couple of stories with you to illustrate this principle.

When I was a child, my mother took me aside every week into a room by ourselves and gave me a primary lesson. We were too far from the church to attend primary during the week, so mother was authorized to teach all of us at home. We would sit opposite each other either in my bedroom or mother's sewing room, learning the lesson from the manual. We would sing an opening song, say a prayer, discuss the lesson, do the activities, have a closing song, and prayer. I never attended primary with a class. But I felt very much a part of primary and the church because of what I was taught in those weekly lessons with my mother.

During the same time in my life, my mother, who was a relatively new convert, learned about the prophet's council to store and eat wheat. She began from that time forth to make her own bread after grinding her own wheat which she had stored. Every week she would bake dozens of rolls, or buns, as we called them, and put them in the freezer for the coming week. Every day after school, we would take out a bag of the buns an have our after school snack. On our long trips to church every week, mother would always bring a bag of buns with us so that on the way home we could have something to eat after church. Wherever we went a bag of buns went also.

When I was in college, I spent a summer with a family whom I had known since I was a child. I worked two jobs and spent very little time with the family but when I was home, sometimes I would take out my guitar and sing a few of my favorite songs to their three younger children. I suppose if I added up all the time I spent singing and playing with them it might be about four hours. But we had fun and I still remember their eager faces shining up at me and asking me to play “just one more”.

When mother took me aside to teach me the gospel, she was nurturing my mind, and my spirit. She was giving me a foundation upon which to build my faith. I can mark the beginning of my testimony from those days I spent at mother's knee learning the gospel, learning the primary songs and hymns, praying and talking with mother. I learned that I was a child of God. I believed my mother when she testified that Jesus lives and would return again. I can still feel the warmth of the spirit testifying to me that her words were true. I learned that mother loved me enough to take time out of her busy life to teach me, just me. Not a group, not a class, not in general, but me. It contributed greatly to my stability as a human being, and my confidence in accomplishing goals later on in my life. She taught me that nothing was more important than learning the gospel, so, nothing was more important to her as a mother than teaching it to me. It was a first priority, not second, third or last.

When mother spent her whole Saturday, every week, baking bread for us children, I learned that nourishing food takes time, effort and love. I learned also that good, nourishing food also brings peace of mind, contentment and a measure of health which cannot be purchased. I learned that good food, lovingly prepared lasts longer than the meal itself, it can last a lifetime in the memory of the children for whom you prepare it. My mother's diligent example also gave me a foundation upon which to build my own home. Relying upon the things my mother taught me has been a great blessing to me in my life and the lives of my children. The physical nourishment that was given to my by my mother, is now being passed on, by tradition, to my own children.

When I spent a few hours singing and talking to those little children in a little town in Utah, I didn't realize that I was also laying a foundation for the future. I learned that a few years after I left to go back to school, one of the children who had listened to me play and sing had remembered nearly every song, word for word. He played them back for me at the wedding of his sister and told me that he intended to become a professional musician because of what I had taught him.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell said: “Reserved by the Lord for this time, (the rising generation) must now be preserved and prepared for their special moment in human history! They have been held back to come forth at this time, but now they need to be pushed forward to meet their rendezvous...”. Who will do this job of preserving, preparing and pushing forward? Whose job is it?

The Proclamation to the World states: “Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, to teach them to love and serve one another, to observe the commandments of God and to be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations. “

Also from the Proclamation: “ By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners.
President Hinckley said: “Never forget that these little ones are the sons and daughters of God and that yours is a custodial relationship to them, that He was a parent before you were parents and that He has not relinquished His parental rights or interest in these His little ones...”.
Clearly parents have a divine mandate to love, nurture, feed, teach, shelter, guide, protect and strengthen their children. Nothing could be more plain.

Sister Barbara Thompson of the Relief Society general presidency as said: “As Relief Society sisters we can help one another to strengthen families. We are given opportunities to serve in many capacities. We constantly come in contact with children and youth who may need just what we can offer. You older sisters have much good advice and experience to share with younger mothers.”

We each are responsible for the solidarity of our own family. Strong families make a strong church, community and nation. Nurturing our own and other children is a big part of what the Lord expects of us as His people. The consequences for disobedience, apathy or neglect where this is concerned are very serious.

The Proclamation states: “We warn that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God. Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.

I once heard a nutrition expert describe living on a diet of processed modern food as “Starving to death on a full stomach”. Lack of proper nourishment in our food supply is a serious problem. Even more serious is the lack of spiritual nourishment in our spiritual food supply. The media is a constant supply of food for the hungry, but it is very often completely lacking in spiritual nourishment, and can even be dangerous or addicting. The Lord has given his people a plan for their physical and spiritual nourishment. If followed, we are given great promises in return. Can we afford to ignore this council? Can we allow the world to feed us both spiritually and physically. Let it not be said of us, as Latter-Day Saints that we are starving to death on a full stomach, but let us nurture one another as it says in Moro. 6: 4

4 And after they had been received unto baptism, and were wrought upon and acleansed by the power of the Holy Ghost, they were numbered among the people of the bchurch of Christ; and their names were taken, that they might be remembered and nourished by the good word of God, to keep them in the right way, to keep them continually watchful unto prayer, relying alone upon the merits of Christ, who was the author and the finisher of their faith.

Once there was a woman who had a lovely plant which she admire very much. She prized it above all the other plants in her house because it was given to her by her grandmother who had passed away only a few weeks before. The woman took great care of the plant, talking to it, giving it the right amount of sunlight, just enough water, and proper amounts of fertilizer for optimal growth and development. But, the woman had a neighbor who was jealous of her beautiful plant that seemed to grow without effort. So, the neighbor devised a plan by which she could obtain the beautiful plant and be able to show her friends how smart she was to be able to grow such lovely greenery. The neighbor began immediately to implement her devious plan when she happened to see the woman pruning her shrubs in the yard. She began to lie and say that she was an expert in house plants and that she knew more about one particular house plant than any other. She lied that she had secrets known only to her that would allow the plant to grow to knew and wonderful heights, with extra specially beautiful and lasting flowers. The neighbor didn't have long to wait, for the woman, after a few days of these lies was fully convinced of her own inadequacy to care for the plant. She handed the plant over to her neighbor without so much as a name tag for the plant. The neighbor, who was thrilled at her triumph, soon began to invite all the neighbors to see what a beautiful plant she had in her home. She bragged of her expertise and gained many compliments on her ill-gotten plant. But, within a few days of neglect, for the neighbor knew nothing of the plant and it's care, the plant began to wither and die. Too ashamed to confess her deceit to her friend, the neighbor lied again to the woman when she asked about the plant and she told her that it had been stolen. So the woman lost her precious heir-loom plant because she trusted someone else to nurture it for her when she herself was best suited for it's care.

God, our Father has given us the proper nourishment for our spirits. Ours is the responsibility to partake of it, even feast upon it.

2 Nephi 31:20 ”Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a clove of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.”

Then, after we have partaken of this nourishment we must bring forth fruit, even the fruit of righteousness. That is what we are expected to do, and that is why we nurture our children.

Jacob 6: 7
7 For behold, after ye have been nourished by the good word of God all the day long, will ye bring forth evil fruit, that ye must be bhewn down and cast into the fire?

Therefore, as Mormon said in Moroni 9:6 “let us labor diligently; for if we should cease to labor, we should be brought under condemnation; for we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay, that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness, and rest our souls in the kingdom of God.”