The Family: A Proclamation to the World

I have been all emotional lately, and I can't pinpoint exactly why. I know I have been in a spiritual rut for the past few months, and am actively trying to bring myself out of it. We had a speaker in church on Sunday say something that really hit me hard.

Not a direct quote: Does your child know more about Thomas the Train than he does about Jesus, or the story of Daniel in the Lion's Den?
I honestly didn't get anything else out of that talk, and it took all that I had not to start bawling my eyes out. Ethan knows every Car's character and most all the super heroes. He can even spot the Blue's Clue's Dog from a mile away! He can point out Jesus, but I know we haven't spent enough time providing for his spiritual needs. We do Family Home evening almost every week, but we don't put enough time into preparing a lesson. We usually read a few Book of Mormon or New/Old Testament stories, and end with ice cream.

However, we are getting better at involving him in our nightly prayer. Sometimes he does really well. He will usually kneel with us, (or crawl all over us) and say, "Amen" in the sweetest voice humanly possible. Some nights, he'll yell and talk through prayer. My favorite thing so far:
Daniel had just started praying, and Ethan yells "Amen!" mid prayer. Daniel barely got through the rest of the prayer without laughing. It really was funny!

I decided to take some time and read over “The Family: A Proclamation to the World”
Again, it got me all emotional. This part really stood out:

“Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. ‘Children are an heritage of the Lord’ (Psalms 127:3). Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, to teach them to love and serve one another, to observe the commandments of God and to be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations."

I want Heavenly Father to be pleased with the way we are teaching and raising our son. That puts a lot of responsibility on our shoulders. I have a lot of work to do, and I'm not going to let Satan make me feel inadequate any longer! Check back with me in about 17 years to see how we did.