Guardian Angels-Protecting our Families by Bonnie

A guardian angel is an angel thought of as watching over a particular person, a defender of that person. In the Bible dictionary and the topical guides there are no references to guardian angels. Elder John A. Widtsoe stated that there is no evidence that every person is assigned a guardian angel, one who would give each of us special help. “In fact, the constant presence of the Holy Spirit would seem to make such a constant, angelic companionship unnecessary.”
We, as mothers, think of ourselves as the guardians of our homes not unlike those mothers of the stripling warriors who taught their sons to “. . . keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before him” [Alma 53:22] Their mothers taught them “. . .that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them . . . [they did] not doubt that [their] mothers knew it.” [Alma 56:47-48]
Out children need protection daily from drugs, pornography, foul language, music that does not uplift, movies that do not invite the spirit, violence. How do we arm our children to successfully face the world they go outside our homes. Are we teaching our children Celestial principles? Are we following the counsel that we have received from Prophets of the Lord? Do we implement the programs given to us from the Prophets, say, for example, do we hold weekly Family Home Evening? Why was this program been given to us?
“If the Saints obey this counsel [to hold regular family home evenings], we promise that great blessings will result. Love at home and obedience to parents will increase. Faith will be developed in the hearts of the youth of Israel, and they will gain power to combat the evil influence and temptations with beset them.” [Joseph F. Smith, Anthon H. Lund, Charles W. Penrose, First Presidency letter, 27 April 1915]
Why do we struggle in implementing this program if the purpose of holding FHE is to help us protect and guard our families? Young children have short attention span.Teenagers are busy, they might have attitudes, or be rebellious. Then families with a range of ages of children– how do you teach to reach one age without losing the other? And what about single adults, couples or empty-nesters– is it necessary for them to hold family home evening? The answer is a resounding YES because we all grow closer to the spirit if we will follow the guidance of the Prophets.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie (The Probationary Test of Mortality, University of Utah, Jan. 10, 1992) stated that “. . . everyone in the Church who is on the straight and narrow path, who is striving and struggling and desiring to do what is right, though is far from perfection in this life; if you’re on that path and pressing forward and you die, you’ll never get off that path. There is no such thing as falling off the straight and narrow path in the life to come and the reason is that this life is the time that is given to men to prepare for eternity. If you are on that path when death comes . . . you’ll never fall off from it, for all practical purposes your calling and election is made sure.”
Family home evening doesn’t have to be complicated. A basic family home evening format would be (1) prayer, (2) song, (3) scripture, (4) lesson, (5) prayer When you have young families, it could take 5 minutes to cover everything. Using this format, we teach gospel principles to all different ages of children. I know we are all busy but is this program too difficult for us to follow?
And where do we get ideas for lessons? We have resources to help us from scripture story books and videos to LDS.org. You can even google “family home evening” to get creative ideas that work from other families who have tried them. Have you ever thought of taking a hymn and making that the basis for a family home evening lesson? If your family is struggling to hold family home evening why not combine with another family, or share ideas with someone who has had the same struggles.
If we will have faith, and rely on the spirit, the Lord will assist us to hold family home evening. Hasn’t the Lord told us “. . . for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left . . . my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.” (D&C 84:88 )
Will we be among those who knew? Will we be mothers who prepare our children to face the world fully protected?Will we be the guardian angels of our homes?
Lets all work together and help each other to succeed.