Our Friends in their Golden Years

By Frank Ouimette

(This article was inspired by a talk given by Apostle Boyd K. Packer at General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, April 2003)

These days, many people tend to look on the older generations as a burden. They think these old-timers are old-fashioned in their ways and in their thinking. Inefficient, slow, obsolete.

But in thinking this way, they miss the fact the older generation has a lot of experience in life’s trials and opportunities and have much to offer to the rising generation.

See what Job says in the Old Testament:

JOB 12: 12-13

“With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding.

With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding.” (Job 12:12-13)

Be close to your parents and grandparents. They can help you more than you realize.

Young women should be close to older women because of their knowledge and experience and learn the ways that have been passed down through the generations that sometimes work when modern ways don’t.

Young men should be close to the older men because they have gone through many things that you have not yet experienced in your own lives, but soon may. They can help you avoid mistakes that will affect your lives and show you how to choose a better way.

TITUS 2: 1-7

“But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:

That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.

The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;

That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,

To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.

In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity.” (Titus 2:1-7)

They love you and know that the future of the world and the church are in your hands.

Don’t re-invent the wheel when it is already made and perfected.

If you do not have your grandfathers and grandmothers near you, look for neighbors and local people who are older to be friends with. Most will have experience and advice you will need in your life.

Watch how they live. They don’t jump first then think after. Things are planned out.

They may be the kind of people who know how to save a nest egg for the future, have food storage advice, be able to fix things in a way that you do not have to go and buy, and see what is coming in the world and prepare for it.

You will find someday that what you think was a burden now; you will look back and find that it really was a blessing to you.

Parents and grandparents often worry about their children and grandchildren, which is good, because it shows they care, but the older generation should also remember that their progenies are the Lord’s children also and that He wants each to gain the experience of this mortal probation, sometimes away from their parents and grandparents.

They have come here for their test and to learn on their own in many cases. That is why they need to leave their father and mothers and experience life alone or with their spouse and children.

Below is one of the 10 Commandments that we will be judged for obeying or disobeying:

“Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” (Exodus 20:12)

Even though older people have served in many capacities in their communities, and are eventually released from those duties, they are never released from the Gospel. They must live it, teach it, and become who the Lord wanted them to become through the experiences they learn in mortality.

The greatest goal of all is to strengthen your family and seal the generations together to be part of God’s eternal family.

The Atonement of Jesus Christ: Our Reconciliation with God

Another stellar article written by guest-writer Cody Bosch.

I would like to speak of the wonderful gift to mankind that is the Atonement of Jesus Christ. As Elder Boyd K. Packer of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints cleverly phrased it, “Atonement is really three words:At-one-ment, meaning to set at one, one with God; to reconcile, to conciliate, to expiate.”

Elder Packer explains that the component parts of the word each have their own meaning. “At” as in place; “one” person, or God; and “ment” for a dictionary suffix which means to be at a state of condition due to action, or concrete result of action making, “to set” as it were. The atonement reconciles us with God.

“If punishment is the price repentance asks, it comes at bargain price. Consequences, even painful ones, protect us. So simple a thing as a child’s cry of pain when his finger touches fire can teach us that. Except for the pain, the child might be consumed.”

-Boyd K. Packer

Because of the fall of Adam and Eve--the descent of man from God's presence, to a fallen, sinful state--the Atonement was made necessary. The fall resulted in mankind being subject to death, temptation, and sin, conditions that one cannot overcome on their own. In order to reconcile us with God, a higher power needed to intervene.

The atonement was what Jesus Christ achieved in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross at Calvary. He suffered, bled, and died for the sins and pains of the world. When we engage our end of this Atonement by repenting and looking upon Christ, we can be forgiven. Thanks to Christ's triumph over death itself, we are able to live again as resurrected beings in the hereafter.

There are two types of death that humans can experience. These are physical and spiritual death. The atonement allows us to conquer both of these. Spiritual death is separation from God. You can experience this multiple times. This is through sin. When obeying the Lord's commandments and acting righteously, we are entitled to the Lord's presence, the gift of the Holy Ghost, the Light of Christ. When in sin, we forfeit this sacred presence, and must repent to get it back.

“An atonement was made. Ever and always it offers amnesty from transgression and from death if we will but repent. Repentance is the escape clause in it all. Repentance is the key with which we can unlock the prison from inside. We hold that key within our hands, and agency is ours to use it...I readily confess that I would find no peace, neither happiness nor safety, in a world without repentance. I do not know what I should do if there were no way for me to erase my mistakes. The agony would be more than I could bear. It may be otherwise with you, but not with me.”-Boyd K. Packer

Amnesty means an act of authority in forgiving a person or group of people. Every person except Jesus commits sins and transgressions, therefore putting them in need of amnesty and forgiveness. Repentance is the key that unlocks us from our spirit prison.