What can I do to better fulfill my role as a father?
“Perhaps the most essential of a father’s work is to turn the hearts of his children to their Heavenly Father,” Elder D. Todd Christofferson teaches. “If by his example as well as his words a father can demonstrate what fidelity to God looks like in day-to-day living, that father will have given his children the key to peace in this life and eternal life in the world to come. A father who reads scripture to and with his children acquaints them with the voice of the Lord” (“Fathers,” Apr. 2016 general conference).
“In your home, … the greatest value will be in the small acts that help us and those we love work toward eternal life,” teaches President Henry B. Eyring. “Those acts may seem small in this life, but they will bring everlasting blessings in eternity.”
“What can you do?” President Eyring asks.
- “Attend your sacrament meetings with your family.”
- “Hold family meetings in which the Holy Ghost is invited.”
- “Pray with your wife and family.”
- “Prepare yourself to take your family to the temple.”
- “Move with them along the path to an eternal family home.”
- “Treat your wife and children the way Heavenly Father has treated you.”
- “Follow the example and direction of the Savior to lead your family in His way” (“Eternal Families,” Apr. 2016 general conference).
“I know you wish you were a more perfect father,” Elder Christofferson says. “I know I wish I were. Even so, despite our limitations, let us press on. Let us lay aside the exaggerated notions of individualism and autonomy of today’s culture and think first of the happiness and well-being of others. Surely, despite our inadequacies, our Heavenly Father will magnify us and cause our simple efforts to bear fruit” (“Fathers”).
