Day Forty-one

1 Nephi 8:13-16

1 Nephi 8:

13 And as I cast my eyes round about, that perhaps I might discover my family also, I beheld a river of water; and it ran along, and it was near the tree of which I was partaking the fruit.

 14 And I looked to behold from whence it came; and I saw the head thereof a little way off; and at the head thereof I beheld your mother Sariah, and Sam, and Nephi; and they stood as if they knew not whither they should go.

 15 And it came to pass that I beckoned unto them; and I also did say unto them with a loud voice that they should come unto me, and partake of the fruit, which was desirable above all other fruit.

 16 And it came to pass that they did come unto me and partake of the fruit also.

We have learned that there are two factors which exert the greatest influence on whether young men desire to be morally clean, serve a mission, and marry in the temple. These are (1) religious activity in the home (such as family prayer, family home evening, family scripture study) and (2) agreement with parents on values and on goals for the future. These two influences were found to have a greater impact than all other factors combined in creating these essential desires.

These findings affirm the importance of a father, as patriarch to his family and its chief priesthood officer, setting a righteous example by making the gospel lifeline operative and effective in his own life and then extending it to his family. Just as Lehi in the Book of Mormon saw in a vision the significance of the fruit of the gospel of Jesus Christ and then invited his family to partake, so should fathers in the Church today partake of the fruit of the gospel and hold out this lifeline to their wives and children. And, just as Nephi was obedient to his father and came forward faithfully and partook of the gospel’s fruit and received its blessings, so should every son today grasp firmly the iron rod, the lifeline of the gospel spoken of by Nephi, and, like Nephi, follow his father’s and his priesthood leaders’ righteous examples.

Brother Rex D. Pinegar, The Gospel Lifeline, October 1985