Laundry, Basketball, Runny Noses, and the Spirit of Elijah

Could folding laundry be a manifestation of the Spirit of Elijah?  What about playing ball with a child?  Wiping a runny nose of a toddler?  Stick with me to the end of this post, and I’ll try to explain why I think the answer to these questions is “yes.”  

I have had a convergence of various thoughts over the last couple of weeks that I hope make sense as I attempt now to convey them.  The common denominator of these thoughts is what members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints refer to as the Spirit of Elijah.  I touched on this very briefly a couple of blog posts ago, but the Spirit of Elijah refers to the concept found in Malachi 4:5-6:

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

Latter-day Saints believe that this scripture was fulfilled in 1836, when Elijah appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in the Latter-day Saint temple in Kirtland, Ohio and bestowed the keys (divine authority) to seal and to perform proxy ordinances for those who have died (see Doctrine and Covenants 110:13-16).  It is through this authority that families are sealed together so that marital and parental bonds may continue after this life.  It is also through this authority that worthy members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can be baptized for those who have died without receiving the essential ordinance of baptism, so that those who did not have the opportunity to receive baptism in this life may choose to receive it prior to the final judgment (John 3:5 explains that this is necessary in order to enter into the kingdom of God).  Members of the Church may also be sealed on behalf of the dead so that the families of the deceased can continue into the eternities if they choose to accept that sealing.

This work of performing ordinances on behalf of the dead is the main reason why the Church invests significant resources into genealogy and family history research.  Members of the Church are encouraged to research their genealogy and family history.   Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles recently made some significant promises to the youth of the Church:  

I invite the young people of the Church to learn about and experience the Spirit of Elijah. I encourage you to study, to search out your ancestors, and to prepare yourselves to perform proxy baptisms in the house of the Lord for your kindred dead…

As you respond in faith to this invitation, your hearts shall turn to the fathers.... Your love and gratitude for your ancestors will increase. Your testimony of and conversion to the Savior will become deep and abiding. And I promise you will be protected against the intensifying influence of the adversary. As you participate in and love this holy work, you will be safeguarded in your youth and throughout your lives.[i]

Thus, as individuals seek out their ancestors, the hearts of the children are turned to their fathers, and both the ancestors (the “fathers”) and the descendants (the “children”) are blessed.

Very recently, I have been bitten with a dose of the Spirit of Elijah and have discovered within me an increased enthusiasm for working on researching my family history and genealogy.  Much of the work for my own family has already been compiled by my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and others.  But a lot of the work that remains to be done is to attach sources (i.e., censuses, marriage certificates, death certificates, etc.) to substantiate the information that is already compiled in my family tree.  And, occasionally, I am finding individuals for whom temple work still needs to be completed, and I have been able to take those names to the temple so that my wife and I can be baptized, confirmed, endowed, and/or sealed in behalf of those individuals.  

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So, thus far I have been talking about the Spirit of Elijah in the traditional way members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints tend to think and talk about the Spirit of Elijah.  And I think this is the principal way in which the Spirit of Elijah is to be understood.  However, thus far, most of what I have been talking about is the hearts of the “children” being turned to the “fathers.”  But what about the other part of Malachi 4:5-6?  That Elijah would turn the heart of the fathers to the children?  I think this does happen in temple work, as spirits on the other side of death (the Spirit World or the other side of the veil, as we often refer to it within the Church) reach out to living individuals to inspire them to find the names of the deceased and perform proxy ordinances on their behalf.  President Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, a heart surgeon prior to his calling as an Apostle, recently shared an experience in General Conference in which he was awakened by two girls from the other side of the veil, former patients of his, who pleaded with him: “Brother Nelson, we are not sealed to anyone! Can you help us?”[ii]  I have also felt this pull over the last few weeks from a particular family that I found within my own family tree whose members have not yet received all the ordinances of the gospel.  

So, I do believe that the hearts turning from the fathers to the children is found within the traditional sense of the Spirit of Elijah, of seeking out our genealogies and family histories and performing proxy ordinances in the temple.  However, this last week, my eyes were opened to a broader understanding of the Spirit of Elijah.  Two trains of thought brought me to this realization.  

First, I rediscovered and have been thinking about my great-great grandfather, William Cresfield Moody.  He fought under Sam Houston in the Texas fight for independence from Mexico.  When Texas gained its independence, William was granted more than 4,500 acres in Texas for his military service.  However, when missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints taught him the restored gospel, he joined a company of Mormon pioneers and went to Utah to join the Latter-day Saints there, giving up all the land he had been given in Texas.  He served several missions after his arrival in Utah, and helped settle the St. George, Utah area.  I admire him for the faith he exercised and the sacrifices he made to give up his life and land in Texas and go to the unknown Utah Territory.    

Second, I recently came across a General Conference talk from October 2004 by Elaine S. Dalton, in which she talks about the sacrifices that the Mormon pioneers made:

A little over a year ago, my husband and I visited Nauvoo. As we walked through the Old Pioneer Cemetery searching for the grave of an ancestor, Zina Baker Huntington, I was touched by the peaceful solitude and spirit I felt. I walked through the trees and read the names on the gravestones, many of them children and families. I wept as my heart was turned to our forefathers, many of whom had joined the Church and come to Nauvoo. In my mind I asked many questions: Why did they leave their comfortable homes and families? Why did they suffer persecution, sickness, even death? Why did they sacrifice all that they had to come to this place and build a temple? They hardly had shelter, and yet they were building a temple! Why did they do it? And when the temple was nearly completed, how could they leave it behind? As I sat silently contemplating this scene, the answer came forcefully yet softly to my mind and heart: “We did this for you.”

Those words, “We did this for you,” reminded me that our ancestors, along with many other faithful Saints, sacrificed everything because of their testimonies and faith in Jesus Christ. They knew that the gospel had been restored to the earth once more and that they were led by a prophet of God. They knew that the Book of Mormon was true and understood its message and witness. They knew that through the restoration of priesthood keys, families could be sealed together for eternity through holy priesthood ordinances available only in a temple. They knew that temple work was the key to the salvation and exaltation of the human family. They knew the importance of this work, and they were willing to give all that they had in order to provide a house acceptable to the Lord wherein this holy work could be performed. They sacrificed everything so that past and future generations would have access to the eternal blessings of the temple.[iii]

So, as I reflected on the sacrifices of William Cresfield Moody, the pioneers who built the Nauvoo temple, and the many other ancestors and pioneers who have gone before, I hear the echo, “We did this for you.”  And I put myself in their shoes.  Yes, it makes sense.  Just as I am strongly motivated on a day-to-day basis for my son and the other children I hope to someday have, my ancestors and the pioneers were strongly motivated by the thoughts of their own offspring.  They knew the gospel was true and hoped to instill their faith into their children.  

And then, as I continued to ponder, I thought about all the daily activities we do to try to strengthen our homes, families, marriages, and children.  

Modern prophets and apostles have proclaimed in The Family Proclamation: “Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children.… Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, and to teach them to love and serve one another, observe the commandments of God, and be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. . . . Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities.”  

And then the thought occurred to me: Anything we do to strengthen homes, families, marriages, and children entails us turning our hearts to our children.  And these activities, though not akin to abandoning everything we have to cross the plains, do involve daily sacrifices!  

Family prayer.  Family home evening.  Scripture study.  Church attendance.  Even when – perhaps especially when – we don’t get anything out of these activities because our children are disruptive or distracted.  

And I don’t think this applies only to spiritual activities, since spiritual activities aren’t the only activities we do with our hearts turned toward our children.  There are many temporal things we do to strengthen homes, families, marriages, and children.  Furthermore, The Family Proclamation makes it clear that the temporal activities we do to strengthen homes and families are divinely appointed (“Parents have a sacred duty to ... provide for their [children’s] physical ... needs.”)

With these thoughts, I personally concluded that raising children and all that entails is all wrapped up and part of the Spirit of Elijah.  From the most mundane tasks – like folding laundry, changing diapers, washing dishes, playing the same game with your child for the tenth time in a row, working outside the home to provide for the family’s needs – to the more significant moments in a child’s life.  In my opinion and in my broadened view of the Spirit of Elijah, each of these activities fits in neatly with God’s work and plan.  These activities are part of a comprehensive view of the Spirit of Elijah because they strengthen the very familial bonds that are sealed together in temples with the keys Elijah restored.  So, next time you feel burdened by the daily grind of raising children, just remember: you’re doing God’s work.  

I don’t want to discount the importance of family history and temple work, and I think members of the Church should participate in that work as frequently as circumstances allow.  But isn’t it interesting that our “circumstances” tend to allow for temple attendance much less frequently in our child-rearing years?  Does it make sense that the Spirit of Elijah is manifest in parents’ lives in other ways during this period of life?  Again, I don’t make this connection to be used as an excuse not to strive to attend the temple.  But I do think that, in some ways, planning family meals and grinding out a 9:00-5:00 job are as important, in their own right, as participating in family history and temple work.  

What do you think?  Am I off base?  Or do you agree with me that even the most mundane tasks of parenthood can be considered part of the Spirit of Elijah?

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[i] “The Hearts of the Children Shall Turn,” by David A. Bednar, October 2011 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, available at https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/10/the-hearts-of-the-children-shall-turn?lang=eng&_r=1.

[ii] “The Price of Priesthood Power,” by Russell M. Nelson, April 2016 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, available at https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/04/the-price-of-priesthood-power?lang=eng.

[iii] “We Did This for You,” by Elaine S. Dalton, October 2004 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, available at https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2004/10/we-did-this-for-you?lang=eng.