Elder Neil L. Anderson - Children

I am grateful to my great-grandparents, grandparents, parents and all the generations before them for having children, or I would not exist and none of my children would exist.

Thanks to my parents I have had the experience of living, surviving the struggles and fathering of four wonderful children. I have had the privilege of seeing the beginning of life in my children, their development of personality and character, their choices, battles and victories. Thanks to my parents I can be a parent, a blessing I would not want to be without.

As we celebrate Christmas, I am grateful that Mary and Joseph took on the challenge of parenthood at a time when they had to flee their country to protect the newborn baby Jesus. They didn't give up, resigning themselves to just having another child when it perhaps would be more convenient.

Mary and Joseph had had to travel through a hostile desert (the parable of "The Good Samaritan" reminds us of the dangers) at a time when a pregnancy only would slow them down and put their lives at an even greater risk. It was a calling for Mary and Joseph and yet they chose to be parents. Life is all about choices.

Elder Neil L. Andersen talks about parents and their children in "Children:"