Top 10 Things I Want To Teach My Children

I love my brother's idea about having an email address for his young kids and just sending things to their email accounts that will benefit them someday in the future. What a great idea so I'm passing this on to my older children and will be creating email addresses for my younger ones. It may even be worthwhile to create email accounts for unborn children and grandchildren!

In reality, I love 'Top Ten' lists. Maybe that interest was magnified with David Letterman. But the power of the concept was really introduced to me from my Dad. He had a couple of books that had hundreds of "Top 10 Lists" - I now have one or two of those books in my library.

The great thing about top 10 lists is they make us think about things, even seek some inspiration about things. They can even help us prioritize things. There's a lot of good that can come out of working on our own top 10 lists about anything that interests us. It's been a great exercise for me and I'd recommend it to anyone.

So, when it comes to the top 10 things that I could teach my children, here is my off the cuff list.... I probably should think more about it more, but was so taken with the idea I couldn't stop myself and forged ahead!

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THE TOP 10 THINGS I WOULD WANT TO TEACH MY CHILDREN

February 27, 2012

1. I love you. There is nothing that could ever happen that could change that. After your mother, you are the 6 next most important things in my entire life. Grand-kids next!
2. God is real and He loves you. You are one of His children. Just as you have earthly parents that love you, you also have Heavenly Parents that love you more than you could ever imagine. They are anxiously awaiting your return into their heavenly home
3. You can accomplish anything that you set your heart to. You have unlimited potential to do or be anything. Never give up on your dreams. Become the best of whatever you dream about becoming. I believe in you, I'm proud of you, and you can become anything. Set you sights high and shoot for the stars!
4. You are never alone. Someone is always watching over you, watching out for your welfare. There are those that have passed on before you (parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and more) and those that are awaiting their chance at mortality (children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and more) that love you and are interested in your life, in the choices you make, and in comforting you in trying times.
5. Success is measured more in virtues than it is in things or status. Honesty, integrity, charity, righteousness, wisdom, spirituality, grace, responsibility, dedication, and initiative are some of the virtues that are meaningful to me. The amount of money we make, the title we have at work, the calling we have at church, the kind of car we drive, or the place where we live have little real importance in this life, and even less importance in the next life.
6. Happiness is a choice. God called His plan, which included mortality, "The Plan of Happiness". Regardless of the choices we make or the situations of which we have little or no control over in our lives, we always have a choice to how we can react. Make up your mind now to choose to be happy, regardless of the occasion, regardless of circumstance. Resolve to choose happiness and you will find more peace and joy in your life than you would enjoy otherwise.
7. Give people the benefit of the doubt. Be quick to forgive others. Let the Lord deal with those that have been hurtful and offensive. Free your life from the heartache and oppression, the pain and depression that comes from harboring ill feelings toward others. As we forgive, and give others the benefit of the doubt we insure ourselves the same grace-filled treatment from the Lord when we face His judgment on the only Judgment Day that really matters. And more than anything else, that doctrine is one of the most comforting and assuring concepts we can know as we look toward eternal life.
8. Never give up. In the face of tyrants both seen and unseen, when confronting disappointments of unbearable weight, in the midst of Job-like trials, when experiencing unjust or undeserved predicaments, through the depths of pain or sorrow or distress, affliction or grief or regret, know that every moment of it will give you experience and be for your good. There is opposition in all things and so that means that there will be a perfect and balanced offset to all that is unfavorable. There is always a silver-lining, always. Keep the faith and never, never, never give up. All of your efforts and tenacity will pay off many, many times over when all is said and done.
9. Love others, even those that are difficult to love. And just as important, be lovable. Both sides of that responsibility are equally important and significant. Many times we focus almost exclusively on the part about extending love to others, but being open so other people can love and serve us as well is just as important. Getting to heaven is a community effort and the society of heaven is built on that foundational principle - love. The better we learn to incorporate the Law of Love in mortality, the better prepared we will be to live in the mansions prepared for us in the Kingdom of God.
10. Seek and follow spiritual promptings. This should probably be higher on the list, but somehow it ended up here. Maybe being the last on the list will allow it to have more of a lingering memory for you. If all of the commandments, all of the admonitions, all of the laws, and all of the rules and guidelines in life had to be boiled down into a single guiding principle, I believe that this might be the one. As we become proficient in seeking for and following spiritual promptings everything else falls into place. All of the commandments, admonitions, laws, rules and guidelines will automatically fall into place and perfectly aligned. The Spirit will never lead you astray, but will guide you to always be in the right place at the right time, doing the right things for the right reasons. There is a promise of protection and inevitable triumph when we are consistent at seeking and following spiritual promptings. With that promise comes peace of mind and assurance in heart with whatever life throws your way.

To my kids, I'd love your feedback and other ideas you have about the best things to teach your children (and even your parents).

I love you, DAD