Stake Conference, May 19, 2012

Istanbul ,Turkey – First one sheep jumped to it’s death.  Then stunned Turkish shepherds, who had left the herd to graze, while they had breakfast, watched as nearly 1500 others followed, each leaping off the same cliff.

Unlike the shepherds in this report, the Good Shepherd will never leave us alone.  Even so, life can be treacherous for sheep and lambs, as illustrated in the poem "The Echo"

’Twas a sheep not a lamb

That strayed away in the parable Jesus told,

A grown-up sheep that strayed away

From the ninety and nine in the fold.

And why for the sheep should we seek

And earnestly hope and pray?

Because there is danger when sheep go wrong:

They lead the lambs astray.

Lambs will follow the sheep, you know,

Wherever the sheep may stray.

When sheep go wrong,

It won’t take long till the lambs are as wrong as they.

And so with the sheep we earnestly plead

For the sake of the lambs today,

For when the sheep are lost

What a terrible cost

The lambs will have to pay. 

Given our responsibility as parent to teach our children and set a good example, you could change the last few lines of this poem to read:

For when the lambs are lost

What a terrible cost

Some sheep will have to pay.

President Gordon B. Hinckley declared: “I believe our problems, almost every one, arise out of the homes of the people. If there is to be a return to old and sacred values, it must begin in the home. It is here that truth is learned, and that love is nurtured."

The Lord  said: “Teach your children light and truth, according to the commandments. … Set in order your own house. … See that you are more diligent and concerned at home"

 

For me, Father Lehi is a great example of a diligent parent. He rejoiced that some of his children kept the Lord’s commandments. But he must have been heartbroken when his sons “Laman and Lemuel exercised their agency and  partook not of the fruit” that represented  the love of God. Lehi “exceedingly feared for them … lest they should be cast off from the presence of the Lord.”  

Many of us as parents have faced moments of such fear. However, when we exercise our faith by teaching our children and doing all we can to help them, our fears will diminish. With faith, Lehi “did exhort his children with all the feeling of a tender parent, that they would hearken to his words,” and “he bade them to keep the commandments of the Lord”

When lambs do go astray, we must not lose hope.

We too must continue to teach our children and bid them to keep the commandments. We should not, however, allow their poor choices to weaken our faith. Our worthiness will not be measured according to their righteousness. Lehi did not lose the blessing of feasting at the tree of life because Laman and Lemuel refused to partake of its fruit. Sometimes as parents we feel we have failed when our children make mistakes or stray. We are not failures when we do our best to teach, love, pray, and set a good example for our children. When we do this our faith, prayers, and efforts will be consecrated to the good of our children.

In the Bible we read of a great example of a mother. 

“By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, … When Moses grew too old to be concealed, his mother, Jochebed, constructed a basket of bulrushes, waterproofed it with slime and pitch, and placed her young son inside. She directed the tiny basket down the river to a safe place.

Leaving nothing to chance, she also sent along an inspired helper, Moses’ sister Miriam, to keep watch. When Pharaoh’s daughter, found the baby, Miriam bravely offered to call a Hebrew nurse. That nurse was Jochebed.

Because of his mother’s faithfulness, Moses’ life was spared. In time he learned who he really was, and he “forsook Egypt.”

Remembering who we really are, will help us make correct choices as we

and our children try to “forsake Egypt”. 

Boyd K. Packer said :

“You are a child of God. Spiritually you are of noble birth, the offspring of the King of Heaven. Fix that truth in your mind and hold to it. However many generations in your mortal ancestry, no matter what race or people you represent, the pedigree of your spirit can be written on a single line. You are a child of God!”

Like Jochebed, we raise our families in a wicked and hostile world—But, we can weave around our children a protective basket, “the family”—and guide them to safe places where our teachings can be reinforced in the home and at church.

Along the way, at times when our children are away from us, or need extra help, the Lord provides inspired “Miriams” to help watch over them—special helpers such as church leaders, ward members and friends. Sometimes the Spirit prompts us to be those “Miriams” in the lives of those around us.

I am grateful to many of you for being a “Miriam” in the lives of my children as they may have struggled at times to remember who they are.

In the parable of the prodigal son, we find a powerful lesson. After the younger son “came to himself,” he decided to go home.

How did he know his father wouldn’t reject him?  Because he knew his father. He knew how his father had treated him with love and patience growing up. He knew the kind of home that awaited him. “When he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.”  

I know that our Heavenly Father leaves the door open. I also testify that it is never too late to open the door between us and our children with simple words such as “I love you,” “I am sorry,” and “Please forgive me.” We can begin now to create a home they will want to return to—not only now, but in the eternities.

I hope that each of us will recognize that the Lord Jesus Christ is mighty to save. He is the Healer, the Redeemer, the Shepherd who will leave the ninety and nine to find the one. If we are seeking the salvation of special “ones” in our own families, I bear testimony that they are not beyond His reach.

Dear to the heart of the Shepherd,

Dear are the lambs of his fold;

Some from the pastures are straying,

Hungry, and helpless, and cold.

See, the Good Shepherd is seeking,

Seeking the lambs that are lost,

Bringing them in with rejoicing,

Saved at such infinite cost.

I close with a promise to parents found in Isaiah 40: “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.”  Notice the last few words – “gently lead those that are with young.”  Gently lead parents – and grandparents.

I testify that he will gather the lambs and will gently lead us as we strive to lead our lambs home.