Comments on: Earthly Parents —> Heavenly Parents

By: Patrick Abernathy

Patrick Abernathy — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 04:50:17 +0000

I know I have a Heavenly Mother. Why, because I know I have a Heavenly Father. I believe I was nurtured by their side in my first primeval childhood and spent equal or more quality time with my Heavenly Mother. I know She is equal to my Heavenly Father in glory, perfection, compassion, wisdom and holiness. How do I know for sure? My language is inadequate to express. I just know it.

Comment by Patrick, 12Dec09

By: Athena

Athena — Sun, 06 Nov 2005 03:20:31 +0000

Karen8 and Jennifer, thank you right back

Aisy says:

it should create in us a desire to be the best parents we can be so that our children can learn.

Aisy, I think here you’ve gotten at the heart of what I meant to say (though perhaps I wasn’t very clear). I’m not saying that we necessarily should look to our parents for understanding of our Heavenly Parents, I’m saying that we very often do, and that being the case, as we become parents ourselves, what do we do about this?

Because Sue is absolutely right. Our parents have such influence on us that they can also negatively impact our thoughts on Divine Parents. This problem is, I think, unavoidable when we use words like “Father” (a human concept adn relationship) to describe God and our relationship with God. The only fathers and mothers we have direct experience with are human fathers and mothers, and our relationships with these fathers and mothers directly translate (often unawares) into our ideas of what our relationships with a Heavenly father or mother might be. It’s a very powerful trick of language. Thus, the analogy itself doesn’t fail, the humans on this side of it do.

Sometimes, though, the language works in another way: Tacking the word “Heavenly “onto the words “father or “mother” prompts us to think of the fathers and mothers we’ve known, and imagine them without imperfections. Thus “Heavenly Mother” might equal “Mom perfected” in our mind’s eye. We can hope for the analogy to work this way most often, because it’s a little less nerve wracking to think our children will be able to amplify and project our good points rather than our imperfections.

By: jennifer

jennifer — Sat, 05 Nov 2005 19:35:55 +0000

One time as i was driving away from my parents house with my husband just after we had been married, I had this overwhelming realization of how much my parents loved me. I cannot obviously explain this experience, but the notion and picture in my mind of my father AND mother together thinking, praying, and doing so much for me even when they are away from me hit me so hard. I felt the amazing power that their love had and the powerful impact it has had on me. When one feels that one knows she cannot fail.

This experience helped me grow much nearer to God and when I say that I mean both of them together. All they do is together. I know they both are aware of me and care for me the same way my parents do.

This analogy, thought not perfect as mentioned, is a powerful thought. So true……

By: jennifer

jennifer — Sat, 05 Nov 2005 19:32:28 +0000

Awsome post!! What a great thought. I love the comment about Heavenly Mother. Although she is not directly mentioned, you know she is there.

Awsome thought. It really got me thinking.

By: aisy

aisy — Sat, 05 Nov 2005 08:23:24 +0000

I was fortunate to have tremendous examples in my parents, and so the analogy that you brought forth Athena fits for me. However, I think Sue raised a good point when she spoke of her ideas of Heavenly Father being skewed because of her experiences with her earthly father. Not all children in the church get to experience positive figures in their parents. Thus, for some, they have to gain that knowledge and experience outside of the home.

But I do agree with you in that it should create in us a desire to be the best parents we can be so that our children can learn. Perhaps that is one of the greatest lessons we can learn in this lifetime.

By: karen8

karen8 — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 20:17:08 +0000

Thank you, I really enjoyed what you wrote.

By: Athena

Athena — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 16:19:06 +0000

Artemis,

That is exactly what it means. It also means she has very soft hands.

By: Artemis

Artemis — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 16:13:27 +0000

I like the analogy a lot. Of course it’s not perfect because all people on Earth, save One, are not perfect; but are Heavenly Mother and Father are perfect and ideal, so in terms of the analogy, we’re (you’re) making the comparison on the ideal, but an ideal knowable from our (remembered) experience. We can apply that experience to what we don’t currently know about our Heavenly Parents and learn a lot.

What I want to know is, does this mean Heavenly Mother laughs her guts out while watching Shrek?

By: meems

meems — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 14:04:13 +0000

When I am in my more rational moments, I try to “parent” my own kids based on what I think would be the reaction of our Heavenly Parents. After my first baby was born, and I came across some kind of parenting question, I would literally ask myself, “What would Heavenly Mother do?” It reminds me of that scene from Manhattan:
“You think you’re God!”
“I gotta model myself after someone.”

By: AG

AG — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 12:04:42 +0000

You can start to comprehend your relation with Heavenly Father with your Earthly Parents up to a point. They are imperfect, make mistakes (especially when chastising the wrong sibling I would better characterise it when my father, despite his obvious failings, provided loving counsel, care, protection and understanding. I imagine that a perfect Father would treat me in this manner. Yes, our earthly parents could be modelled after a Heavenly parentage. But it is important to consider that the Eternal Father is way more perfect that any of us.