Legacy

In my dad's family, there are five children. I believe that I have 37 cousins. 

And most of those cousins have at least four children, some of them as many as eight. 
There are a growing number of my cousin's children who are married and having children
themselves now!  


At our last family reunion, which was about four years ago, we were 
looking at the masses that were gathered, and noticing how remarkable the percentage of 
temple marriages and missionary service seemed to be. The overwhelming feeling was that
we all felt the pull of gratitude toward our grandparents for those blessings in our lives. 

My grandparents were not the first members of the church in their families. In fact, on both 
sides their families have been in the church almost since it's beginning. And even though my
grand parents were never showy about their faith, and never served in callings of prominence, 
our feelings of commitment to the gospel almost universally turned to their example. 

One story that kept being referred to over and over again was the simple story of how 
grandma and grandpa were married. When they decided that they would be married, it was
in the middle of the winter, and there was deep snow on the ground. They were committed 
to being married in the temple, but the nearest temple at the time was in Logan, UT, which 
was a significant distance away from where they lived in Menan, ID. But because temple 
marriage was so important to them, grandpa hitched the horses to the sleigh, and the two 
of them made the long and cold journey to the Logan temple to be sealed for time and all eternity.

This story was beautiful and romantic to all of us, but many of us remarked how much 
more significant this story became as we studied further in our family history and realized 
that none of my grandparents siblings had been married in the temple initially. In my 
grandfather's very large family, none of his siblings were initially married in the temple. 
They were all married civilly first, and then attended to temple ordinances later. There is 
no doubt that because of the difficulty in traveling to the temple it seemed completely 
reasonable to wait for a more convenient time to make their commitments bound in 
heaven as well as on earth. 

But that wasn't enough for my grandparents. 

Their deep faith in the importance of those covenants, and their commitment to their 
eternal goals for the family they were creating pressed them to hitch up those horses, 
pile on the blankets, and head to Logan whether any family would accompany them 
or not. That story sunk deep into each of our hearts and informed our choices throughout 
our lives.

Ray and Ann Miller Legacy. Miller Family Reunion 2011.

My Hero

This week I found a new hero. His name is Ryan T. Anderson. I was so impressed with his composure and clarity in the interview we watched this week. I know that if I had to sit across the room from Suze Orman as she sneered at me, belittled me, and called me ‘sweetheart’ in a derogatory way, my confidence would have crumpled, but Ryan T. Anderson did not lose one inch of his footing. He continued to respectfully and compassionately explain his position and hold his banner.

I appreciated his article in the National Review so much that I’m going to use it in my blog posting this week. My sphere of influence may be limited, but Ryan T. Anderson’s logic persuades me to raise a banner myself. This statement he made points out a serious dichotomy of my own thinking. He says, “And yet there are naysayers who claim that rational arguments never convince anyone. There is something perverse in conservatives’ thinking that ideas have consequences but that good ideas can’t persuade. They can, if only we are willing to present them in a winsome manner. In the long run truth wins out.” (emphasis added) I respect his commitment to speaking out, and see applications of this idea not just in the arena of public policy, but also in the realm of missionary work.

I am grateful to have been taught that family is the true source of happiness in this life and in the life to come. Ryan T. Anderson very clearly and without apology shares this these principles that are really the bedrock of our belief in marriage.  “Whatever the law or culture may say, we must commit now to witness to the truths about marriage: that men and women are distinct and complementary, that it takes a man and a woman to bring a child into the world, and that children deserve a chance to grow up with a mom and a dad.” I think that these ideas are basic enough that even those who say they don’t believe them must feel the lie of it in their throat. At our core, we want our families. We want those we love to love and be there for one another and for us. We understand that being family means we belong. It’s a divine yearning, to desire to be part of your natural family, and we should not silence our support of it.