It is common for people generally to question the importance of writing about or even to know anything about their forefathers, the people who lived before they were even born. You might hear the expression: “they are dead and buried, gone—history. What is important is the here and now—forget the past.” It is often hard to even spark an interest in family history. If you were to have people generally prioritize the important things in their life without mentioning family history as an option, probably, it would never appear on a list.
I was asked to share information about genealogy and family research to a group of young men during their Teachers Quorum meeting. I pondered what I might say to them to spark an interest in their ancestors. I went into the meeting not knowing what I was going to say because, to that point, I had received no inspiration. I was totally dependent on some momentary help from above. After being introduced, along with the subject, there was an immediate bored expression, as if to say, “Oh no! are we going to be preached to about that boring subject again?”
Without actually thinking about what I was going to say, “I asked them if they loved their mothers and fathers.” Their response of course was, yes! “Why do you think you love them?” was the follow-up question. A brief discussion followed, along with questioning expressions on their faces.
Many of them had never even thought about such an obvious emotion. Everybody loves their parents; you don’t have to think about that, do you? Some of the answers were: They love us, they feed us, they work hard to provide for us including the shelter overhead, they hug us and kiss us, they buy us clothes to wear, they send us to school to get an education, they take us to fun places on vacation, they comfort us when we are sad and encourage us to work hard to be successful, they spend time with us, etc. The next question was starting to get into the subject matter. I was asked to take ten minutes at the start of the class, I had already taken ten minutes and was just getting started.
“Do you think your Mother and Father loved their parents?” This question was also answered with an immediate, Yes! response, as most of them had living grandparents whom they knew and loved as well. “Why do you suppose your parents love their mothers and fathers?” Same reasons listed above came back quickly. Now we started really getting into the heart of the subject. Do you know your great grandparents? No! “Without knowing your great grandparents, do you think that your grandparents, whom you do know, loved their Mothers and fathers?” “Yeah, probably” was the response. “Why?” “For the same reasons, probably.”
After explaining what a generation was, I said, “Do you know that in just ten generations you have over two thousand grandparents?”
After establishing that in each of the ten generations children loved their parents, just as we love ours, and for the same reasons, it was easy now to describe the sealing or linking of loved ones that must be done in the temples of our Lord. I asked them, if their ancestors were now maybe just a little more important than they thought they were at the beginning of the conversation, and the answer was, yes!
As part of their young men’s award program they are required to complete a family group sheet as well as a pedigree chart, which I explained to them, and they seemed a little more receptive of that assignment when I left the room.
Some years ago, Elder Hartman Rector Jr. stated that, “I believe that the writing of personal and family histories will do more to turn the hearts of the children to the fathers and the fathers to their children than almost anything else we can do.”
I personally feel that before we are going to get anyone to write a family history we are going to have to turn their hearts first. The question is always, how do you do that? I believe the answer is, parents have to tell family stories in their family home evenings, they have to clothe those spirits with actual people, people who are no longer on the earth, but yet are just as real as you and I.
“For He is not a God of the dead, but of the living, for all live unto Him.” (Luke 20:38) The way parents can be inspired to teach their children about the importance of their ancestors is for the parents to listen to the prophets and take their statements seriously. For example, President Ezra Taft Benson stated, “…Perhaps the present ‘inactive genealogist’ members of the church would be more concerned about their dead if they began to realize that salvation for the dead is…a two way street upon which our mutual exaltation is dependent. Our responsibility to keep a journal and write our own histories and those of our ancestors…has not changed.”
God bless those of us, whose hearts are primarily turned to the living, to maybe just take a little time from our busy lives to at least turn our heads back and maybe, eventually, we will catch the spirit of this great and important work and then our hearts will be turned as well.