Within Our Hands

I have often heard the expression "don't put your children in between you and your spouse." This is often in reference to sitting in a bench at church, but in general is a statement about placing them between our love for each other. 

One of my favorite traditions that we have in our family is that we love to hold hands durring prayer. We feel that it focuses us and unites us together. Whether or not our children choose to join us, my husband and I will always do this because we feel it shows them that we are united in our faith in God. 

Our oldest daughter is nearly 2 years old. She absolutely loves this tradition and wants to be part of it, even if she has already eaten her dinner. No matter where she is in the house, she runs to add her two little hands to the prayer. 

Sometime, however, it doesn't work to hold everyone's hand. If she has Mommy's hand but not Daddy's hand, it makes her exceptionally upset since Daddy is by far her favorite. In her 2 year old way, she exclaims "why does Mommy get to hold Daddy's hand and not me?!?" 

So, in her very sweet way, she found a solution to the problem. She started to slide her little fingers in between our hands. It was so sweet and innocent that we almost couldn't finish the prayer the first few times it happened. As time has gone by, this has become more the norm than the anomaly. She will sometimes wait until Mommy and Daddy take hands before she will slide her own in. 

Durring the sacrament prayer today, we had such an experience. Nothing new in the process, just the same sweet hand trying to participate. However, this time I was drawn to a deeper perspective of the scene. 

I realized that she always waits until Mommy and Daddy are ready. Then, she slips in the middle, very particularly careful not to separate our bond. She gentlely snuggles in the middle, calm and safe in the warmth between. 

What a beautiful representation of our eternal family!  First, before anything else, the husband and wife must take each other's hand and be united in the temple of The Lord. Our hands together in the blessings of that sacred temple provides the foundation for the family to be built. 

As children are added, they do not try to tear us apart, but rather they desire to participate in the sacred union of love between their parents. They add their little hands, their little faith, to the family as an addition, not a subtraction. 

Then, they gentlely snuggle in the warmth thereof. They could hold to one hand or the other, but is in the union of the two that provides the safest and warmest location for them to be. It is within the realm of our love for each other that we create this safe place where our children can be comforted. We call this place "home."

In so being, we do not put our children between us, but rather encircle them within us. It is when we strengthen our love and our union that we create this "home."  It is our responsibility as parents to provide this "home" for the children of our Father. Be they sent to our home by birth, by circumstance, or by the spirit. He has placed them within our hands.