United We Stand

(Marriage - Week 11)

One of the first rules you learn as a parent, is that both father and mother must provide a united front. They must work together in order for the family to run smoothly and for children to learn and grow without confusion. Having a weekly couple council will provide time for the couple to discuss important matters and become more united. Each spouse brings special abilities to the family unit that should not be overlooked.

Elder M. Russell Ballard wrote, “Both men and women are to serve their families and others, but the specific ways in which they do so are sometimes different. For example, God has revealed through His prophets that men are to receive the priesthood, to become fathers, and with gentleness and pure, unfeigned love to lead and nurture their families in righteousness, taking for their pattern the way the Savior leads the Church. Men have also been given the primary responsibility for providing for the temporal and physical needs of the family. Women have the ability to bring children into the world and have been given the primary role and opportunity to lead, nurture, and teach their little ones in a loving, safe, and spiritual environment. In this divinely sanctioned partnership, husbands and wives work together, each bringing his or her unique contribution to the family. Such a couple provide children born to their union a home where they can be fully nurtured by both a mother and a father. By appointing different accountabilities to men and women, Heavenly Father provides the greatest opportunity for growth, service, and progress” (Counseling with Our Councils, 56).

For this growth to occur, husband and wife must work together. They must be united. President Henry B. Eyring stated, “Our Heavenly Father wants our hearts to be knit together. That union in love is not simply an ideal. It is a necessity” (“That We May Be One,” Ensign, May 1998). The first step to being united is to have the companionship of the Holy Ghost. President Eyring explains, “Where people have that Spirit with them, we may expect harmony. The Spirit puts the testimony of truth in our hearts, which unifies those who share that testimony.”

I am setting a goal to have weekly couple council with my husband. We will strive to invite the Spirit to our council and into our home, through obedience, prayer, and repentance.