Warriors of Nobility

I was once asked which scriptural prophet I would most like to meet and interview.  Without hesitation I responded “Joseph of the Old Testament, the son of Jacob, with the coat of many colors.”  He has my admiration because when approached by Potiphar’s wife he fled!  He didn’t linger around to teach her correct moral principles. Instead he had the strength of character and the wisdom to see the danger in staying. To me those are qualities to admire and in my own thought process I think, “If he can be strong in adversity, so can I”.  Later while pondering this question I started remembering a long list of great heroes with strong characteristics that we read about in our scriptures.  These great examples should be imbedded into our children’s hearts and minds so they can develop these same traits into their own character.

My son wrote home from the mission field that he had a companion who had been caught up with a sub-culture group on his high school campus.  They all wore black, stayed together and outwardly display somber attitudes.  My son mentioned how he admired his companion’s strength in leaving the acceptance and comforts afforded by these friends. His decision to serve a mission required changing his life and leaving friends who held vastly different outlooks on life.  It was my son’s next comment that made my heart ache, observing that the attitudes his companion fostered during this formative time of character building had affected his ability to be an effective missionary. I thought again of Joseph in Egypt who had the strength to flee instead of seeing if he could change the attitude and motives of Potiphar’s wife.  He recognized evil and knew when to flee and not look back. Why didn’t this young man know how and when to turn away from influences that would pull him a different direction?

How many of our children are caught up in similar situations that will lead them away from what our Father in Heaven really has in store for them.  A lyric from one of Saturday’s Warriors songs calls our youth, “warriors of great nobility.”  Do they really see themselves as such?  Can they stand and fight for truth and righteousness…even if they stand alone?  How can we teach them to recognize good from evil? We encourage them to have charity for others, reach out to those who are not like us, to be missionary minded, share the gospel with all and to help the weak of mind and soul.  How can we teach them to do these things yet caution them of the dangers awaiting them outside our homes? There are people who want to pull them down; who don’t want them to have high standards; who would love to see them fail. There are those individuals who have no desire to follow light and truth.

I don’t think there is any one answer but it is a sure path down the wrong path if we as parents don’t encourage full church attendance and developing social bonds with church friends.  That means full church participation on our part as well. When I was a Young Women leader several years ago one young girl, who attended on Sunday, never came to the week night activities. I called the mother to see if there was a problem and her response surprised me.  The daughter was much too busy with school and extra activities to waste an evening in activities with young women that really didn’t accept her anyway.  The years have been hard on this young woman and her mother as paths taken by choice and encouragement of outside influences have affected her church activity.  The mother now wonders what happened. I also question the motive of parents who put their child on restriction from all church activities because they are grounded. Does that encourage our children to make correct choices?

So many examples of wonderful people are found in our scriptures.  Maybe reading scriptures as a family is not possible for your family because of your schedules or children’s ages but telling them of people that you personally read about in the scriptures is possible.  Dinner conversations, car time, emails and the power of a text message that only says “Remember Ammon” can be a powerful tool. We need to help our children remember those great examples of characteristics you want your children to follow.  Ester who not only was beautiful on the outside, had strong righteous convictions on the inside; Nephi’s faith; Ammon’s courage and willingness to serve; Alma the younger’s ability to change; Abish’s testimony of the gospel while living without others to support her; the 2000 stripling warriors’ example of courage and obedience…the list is endless.  For any weakness your child has there is a hero in our scriptures who has that characteristic as his strength.  Teach your child to love that hero! Your children will develop the attitude, “If they can do it, I can do it.”  Ask if your child knows more about the superheros on Saturday morning TV or those social icons followed in the tabloids?  If so, refocusing needs to happen.

Our church activity can be our best ally in instilling wisdom in our children. Every week our young women stand and repeat the Young Women theme: “We are daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves us, and we love Him. We will stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places as we strive to live the Young Women values, which are: Faith, Divine Nature, Individual Worth, Knowledge, Choice and Accountability, Good Works and Integrity We believe as we come to accept and act upon these values, we will be prepared to strengthen home and family, make and keep sacred covenants, receive the ordinances of the temple, and enjoy the blessings of exaltation.” The 13^th article of faith states “We believe in being honest, true chaste, benevolent, virtuous and in doing good to all men…If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.” The Scout Law states “A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.”  Discuss these qualities for their practical value helping them to internalize what they mean and that by living them their lives will be enriched. Teach them to know they are loved and accepted by a much higher group than the one on the local school campus. (It sounds like several great family home evening topics to me.)

Dangers are out in our world and being aware of all the strong influences should assist us in helping our children recognize good from evil and the ability to hear the spirit telling them when to flee.  Our homes should be the place where our warriors of these latter days should be trained.  Sister Beck, the general Relief Society President, stated in our last conference that our homes should be the mission training center while the MTC we send our missionaries to should only be a refresher course.  How correct she is! Our children are warriors of great nobility, but let’s not forget that we are the parents who have been instructed to teach them.  Our Father has faith in us as well.  Let’s not sit back and think our children will learn correct principles on their own.  That is just what the adversary’s team is hoping for.  Be pro-active, raise your bar and teach your children through the examples of real heroes the goodness and strength of character that the world forsakes.