This week in family relations I didn't go to class Thursday… that is a whole story by itself. It definitely wasn't worth it.
A quote, from the day that I did go to class and do the homework, that I loved was by Elder James E. Faust, "In addition to temples, surely another holy place on earth ought to be our homes. The feelings of holiness in my home prepared me for feelings of holiness in the temple." A family that focuses on Christ can be ready for challenges anywhere, but more importantly they are ready to live again in God's presence.
There are so many more complexities that go into family relationships than just the nice idea that we will be able to make it back to live with Heavenly Father one day. How do we expect to do that? What does it look like? What are the challenges? Because of this, I was fascinated by the concept of Symbolic Interaction Theory.
The Symbolic Interaction Theory as explained in class is to explain family interactions by individuals' interactions being symbolic. The things we do mean different things to each other.
A hug means something.
A kiss on the cheek means something.
A gentle act of service means something.
Opening the door for a loved one means something.
A nasty glare when you don’t do the dishes means something.
These would be considered as “symbols,” and we all interpret them differently. My little brothers aren’t too keen on physical touch. After leaving and returning home from my mission, neither of them even considered giving me a hug. To them, giving someone a hug is a sign of the other person forcing them to do something outside their will (and a lot of times that is partially true), it is a full chore like doing the dishes. For me, I want to show them that I care, and I love them and want to be closer to them.
I believe it is important to be aware of the ways that we define certain actions within our family. Again, my little brothers don’t like touch, that is, until they want to wrestle. Then they will full body slam you to the ground, and this is a complete expression of love. Their little, but painful, pinches on my arm that create a bruise for a couple of days in their mind is how they show they want to spend time with you laughing, (they didn’t know that I got a bruise from their pinch, I believe that they were totally unaware how hard they had pinched me… hopefully.)
So, if the things that we do are symbolic, what kind of impact does the temple have on our symbolic interaction? If a temple marriage is an eternal marriage, how does this affect our relationships? Just the knowledge that we can be together with our family forever has a deep influence on the way that we show our families that we love them. Everything means more, and everything can become more rich and long-lasting.
I hope to have good symbolic interactions in my future family. I hope that when we say "I love you" that we think of the eternities. I hope that when my future kids think about their future families, they think about the temple and being sealed together forever. I hope that the decisions that I make will impact future generations for years.
“If you want something to last forever, you treat it differently. You shield it and protect it. You never abuse it. You don’t expose it to the elements. You don’t make it common or ordinary. If it ever becomes tarnished, you lovingly polish it until it gleams like new. It becomes special because you have made it so, and it grows more beautiful and precious as time goes by.”
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