Talks for Father’s Day
Father’s Day is coming up and sacrament meetings across the country will be full of fatherhood themes this Sunday. The above video from the Mormon Channel would be a great way to get into the spirit of Father’s Day. To aid you in your quest for sacrament meeting material, we’ve gathered a list of 5 great General Conference talks that discuss the blessings of fatherhood and some specific counsel to fathers everywhere.
1) Fatherhood, An Eternal Example
In the April 2004 General Conference Elder L. Tom Perry gives several examples of fathers in the scriptures and how the world has diminished the role of fatherhood. He then provides clear roles that fathers ought to fill and counsel on fulfilling their sacred responsibilities.
“Place the family in its proper priority. It’s the part of your life that will endure beyond the grave.”
-Elder L.Tom Perry
2) Things That Matter Most
While his remarks are not directly related to fatherhood, Elder A. Theodore Tuttle does offer advice and counsel on, well, the things that matter most, including parenthood and family. On fatherhood he said,
Fatherhood is a relationship of love and understanding. It is strength and manliness and honor. It is power and action. It is counsel and instruction. Fatherhood is to be one with your own. It is authority and example.
Elder Tuttle
3) To The Fathers in Israel
In a priesthood session of General Conference, President Ezra Taft Benson addressed the fathers (and future fathers) of the Church. He speaks about the obligations fathers have over their families and particularly stressed on the relationship a husband should have with his wife.
First and foremost, nothing except God Himself takes priority over your wife in your life—not work, not recreation, not hobbies. Your wife is your precious, eternal helpmate—your companion.
President Ezra Taft Benson
4) Father, Consider Your Ways
Okay, so this next one isn’t exactly a conference talk, but it comes from a pamphlet from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles produced in 1973. [quote_box_right] It is significant that of all the titles of respect and honor and admiration that are given to Deity, He has asked us to address Him as Father.[/quote_box_right]It was last seen in the June 2002 edition of the Ensign. Its aim is to put fatherhood into perspective with the Plan of Salvation and the mortal perils a family faces. One poignant passage asks fathers to contemplate the eternal impact a father has on his family:
Father, you are accountable to the Lord for what you have and what you are. In the future you will surely stand before Him. What will be your report concerning your family? Will you be able to report that your home was a place of love, a bit of heaven? That daily family prayer and secret prayer were fostered? That it was a house of fasting? That in family home evenings and at other times you and your wife taught your children the basic principles of the gospel?
5) Let Us Be Men
The Mormon Channel featured this talk by Elder D. Todd Christofferson as one of it’s Mormon Messages. Elder Christofferson opens with a powerful example of the sacrifices his father made to pay for an ironing press that would make it easier for his mother to iron clothes after a surgery that left her unable to use her right arm without pain. He exhorts men everywhere to stand up and “man up.” He addresses men in general, but what he teaches is essential for fathers (and mothers!) to understand and adopt in order to lead a family in today’s world:
We must arise from the dust of self-indulgence and be men! It is a wonderful aspiration for a boy to become a man—strong and capable; someone who can build and create things, run things; someone who makes a difference in the world.
Elder D. Todd Christofferson
What some other talks or quotes you love about fatherhood?