Righteous Traditions

I recently gave a church lesson on righteous traditions. It made me realize how blessed my life has been because of the righteous traditions of my ancestors. Many of them were strong and determined pioneers who suffered many hardships to start a new life in a new land where they could follow the dictates of their own consciences. Their choices have affected my life in a positive way.

I am so grateful that the tradition of loving God was one they tradition they handed down to me. My grandma Olen was an amazingly spiritual woman. She was close to the Savior and acknowledged Him in all things. My mother followed her in this tradition and also taught us to love and trust God.

The way we live our daily lives shape our traditions. As parents the traditions we give our children will shape and influence their lives and the lives of their children as well. This makes the choices we make in our lives more significant and important than we may realize.

James E. Faust said, “Private choices are not private; they all have public consequences...Our society is the sum total of what millions of individuals do in their private lives. That sum total of private behavior has worldwide public consequences of enormous magnitude. There are no completely private choices.”

I think it’s easy to believe that our choices will only affect us, but this is so wrong. Our decisions affect everyone around us in some way, especially our own children, so it’s important to make good ones.

I learned a good lesson from a friend about the value of tradition. One day I asked her why she was still canning green bean when she was so busy and she could buy them for 50 cents a can. She said it was so she could pass on the tradition to her children. What a valuable lesson. It made me realize that no matter how busy I am I should never be too busy to pass on important traditions taught to me by my parents.

There are many traditions that make our lives more meaningful. When I was little we had family home evening on Monday nights with our cousins. My mom took us to our grandma’s or aunt’s houses. I never realized as a child that she did this for us. I’m sure after a long hard day at work that she probably didn’t always want to go, but she did it so we could have that tradition.

Then mom created a great tradition for her grandchildren. When all of our kids were small she had a Christmas party for her grandchildren, sending them an invitation in the mail. All year long she collected gifts for her party and on that special day they were all displayed in her bedroom with the door closed. One name at a time was drawn out and in turn each child got to pick out gifts. But these gifts weren’t for the kids, they were for their parents.

She was teaching them to love giving. They were so excited for that party where they could think of someone besides themselves. And through her party she was giving gifts to us—her children and our spouses. Of course she always had a little gift for each grandchild, but the focus was always on the giving they would be doing. After all the gifts were wrapped she always had a craft, cookie decorating, or something fun to end the party.

I am so thankful for righteous and joyous family traditions. They have made my life great!