Research

This week we have been talking a lot about research. I think it is critical to understand research because most of the facts we hear about or the text we read is from research that someone has done and is now portraying to the world. We need to be able to tell if that research can be trusted or not.

Earlier this week we were discussing certain issues of the family and deciding if we thought they were a critical issue, a significant issue, or if they didn't matter. Here are a few we talked about: getting married later in life, having fewer children,  etc. I have somewhat of a mixed opinion on these two topics. At first I said that they were critical and I still believe that they are in a gospel sense. If we get married later in life which ultimately leads to having children later in life than we are prolonging the Lord's plan. Getting married and having children is the most important part of his plan so I do see this as critical when people decide it isn't very important or it can wait after they have done what they want to do. But on the other side, some may not feel ready to get married and even after they are married the idea of having children can be terrifying. So how long do you give yourself to feel better about those things? Or do you just blindly follow what we have been told and take our fear out of the equation? I think that both of those aren't quite the answer.

For instance, I just got married a month ago and the idea of having kids really scares me. Although now that I'm married that desire seems to be stronger and stronger as time goew on yet, it is still scary. So sometimes I want to just wait until I feel ready, but what if I never feel ready? On that exception I've just allowed myself to justify not having children. So just have children as soon as possible? I don't think that is the best idea. I need to feel confident that I can handle that because if I don't I think having children will make marriage and family a lot harder than it has to be.

I think the answer to this is that we need to be preparing to do these things that the Lord has commanded us to do. I don't feel ready, but that shouldn't stop me from reading talks, books, articles, and talking to family and friends to learn all that I can. That shouldn't stop me from praying, reading, pondering, and fasting to be able to follow the Lord's plan for me in the timing that he has set for me. I think these issues are critical but each of us needs to pray and discover the  individual plans that the Lord has set out for us.