I have had great joy in thee already, because of thy faithfulness and thy diligence, and thy patience and thy long-suffering..." (Alma 38:3)

I have been blessed to have one daughter. She is an amazing young woman. It is such a blessing as a parent when we finally meet parents of her friends and they tell us that they know if their child is with our daughter they trust, implicitly, that they have nothing to worry about when our children are together. I want to say..."unto you, my [daughter], that I have had great joy in thee already, because of thy faithfulness and thy diligence, and thy patience and thy long-suffering..." (Alma 38:3).

I believe all parents want to have "great joy" in their children. Each child is different and blesses us as parents to help us learn and develop, "that by these [we] might be partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4). The "divine nature" is the Savior's character. "That is our charge" to become like our Savior (Pres. Ezra Taft Benson), and our children help us to become as He is as we parent these "precious little ones" (Pres. Thomas S. Monson), this includes teenagers. It is wonderful being a parent of teenagers!

As we parent our children, and if we don't have children, we can practice these virtues and develop the character of Christ every day as we associate with others. The first virtue, and the one I want to focus on, is "faith" (2 Peter 1:5) "[Faith] is a prerequisite for all other virtues" (Pres. Ezra Taft Benson). Faith is a virtue that leads us in times of darkness, when we have no idea how to help our children or our family, but we know that God knows, and therefore, we go forth with faith. When we have faith in Christ, our efforts and our lives show it because faith produces good works (see James 2:14, 17-26). The good works of attending church even when the Sunday School teacher is boring but we go anyway. Or the good works of paying our tithing when we know we need to pay bills but we choose to put God first in our lives and have the faith the the Lord will "open you the windows of heaven" (Malachi 3:10). Christ had the faith to finish His work, the atonement for us. We, too, must develop the godly characteristic of faith, even as we parent our children.

Faith isn't developed by fear or controlling our children. "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:7). The power from God and the power of love and the power of faith enable us to lead our children and inspire our children to know for themselves how to "choose good or evil" (Alma 13:3). We don't need to manipulate them into choosing good. It is vital that they learn to judge for themselves "to discern good from evil" (The Guide to the Scriptures). It takes faith to teach our children and then even more faith to let them make choices on their own, that they will make good choices that will lead them back to our Father in Heaven when we aren't around.This is when we have "great joy" (Alma 38:3).

Some children may not choose to follow what we have taught them as parents. It takes faith to trust that our Father in Heaven will help us know how to love them and continue to teach them and guide them. President Hinckley said, "You parents, love your children. Cherish them. They are so precious. They are so very, very important. They are the future. You need more than your own wisdom in rearing them. You need the help of the Lord. Pray for that help and follow the inspiration which you receive" (The Fabric of Faith and Testimony). As parents, we will receive divine guidance and help to know what to do and how to help our children, not in fear, but in love. The blessings come when we act in faith on those promptings and inspiration that does come.

We show and strengthen our faith in Christ as we gather our children around us this Christmas and all year long as "we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ...that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins" (2 Nephi 25:26). We do this in love and faith. We are developing the "divine nature" that is a part of who we are and want to and should teach our children. We will say, "I have had great joy in thee already because of thy faithfulness and thy diligence" (Alma 38:3) when our children think of Christmas as the celebration of the birth of Christ and they "look to God and live" (Alma 37:47) every day of their lives because of the "unfeigned faith that is in [them]" (2 Timothy 1:5) no matter what their age. This I testify.