Guest Post!

I have a brother on a mission (in Fortaleza Brazil), and every week we all write letters to him and share them with each other. It's a nice way to know what's going on in each others' lives and a great chance to bear testimony and love. This week my dad wrote a beautiful letter that touched me so much, I wanted to share part of it with you. He has such great insight! I hope it lifts your spirit and perspective as much as it did mine. :)

Yesterday while working outside I was pondering the idea of earthly wealth versus eternal wealth and the value of a soul in the economy of God. It hit me with great force the scripture in Malachi 4:6, "And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." Fathers and children are all parts of families. Turning their hearts to each other is the work of the Lord. These relationships are the only things that survive this life. In the economy of God, children are the real gold. The reality of the gospel is that true wealth comes from having children and teaching them to become as God is. I wonder how the world would change in the way they treat children if they saw them as the key to obtaining endless wealth and power. Righteousness, priestood, and the atonement of course are the tools we use to secure this power and wealth. It made me feel very grateful for my children and for my father. I reflected on the fact that so many children in this world suffer horrendous things at the hands of those who should love and cherish and provide. I thought about my own father, whom I know loved me, and how his own father seemed to struggle expressing his love for his son; this is all my perception as a little boy, and I thought about how I hardly felt any love from my Grandfathers. I decided that I would do all that I could to show as much love for my children as I could. I realized that the thing that shows the greatest love is to teach them the truth, faith in Christ, repentance, the gift of the Holy Ghost and being worthy of temple ordinances. Otherwise "heart turning" has little relevance. These are the things I think about to clear my head. When I am troubled by things going on in the world I ponder the things that bring the spirit, the things the spirit is bound to testify of and it brings clarity to everything else going on in my life and it motivates me to try harder to love. The Lord cannot turn your heart to me, and my heart to you if we accept each other in our sinful state. That is not love at all; love can only be expressed in our encouragement of each other to improve ourselves. There is no love in hell, only misery; no bonds of family, only singleness and loneliness. I felt so moved by this feeling and progression of thoughts. In the economy of God the value of souls is priceless. As I worked in the yard and pondered these things I felt so very elevated in my soul and the view from where I was was out of this world.

I testify to you that your soul is priceless to me, likewise is my soul priceless to you. And so it is for all men.