Father’s Day The LDS Way

Father’s Day is celebrated in every US congregation of the LDS church. And like any holiday, each family has their own traditions they add to the celebration. Typically on Father’s Day Sunday, there is a special service. Those giving talks discuss their view of the importance of fathers and father figures. And like every Sunday, we also remember our Heavenly Father, who is the ultimate example of a perfect father figure. 

Father’s Day at church

After the Father’s Day service, there is typically a treat of some kind for the fathers in the congregation. One year the gift was a small plaque with a poem on it. But most of the time I’ve witnessed candy bars or plants being handed out. It’s a tradition in our family to have a special dinner that evening. And I always include a special dessert. 

For Father’s Day, we enjoy finding fun gifts for my husband, and both grandpas. And we make cards and send funny text messages to uncles and cousins who are far away.

I’ve never made my husband breakfast in bed, but I hear that is a thing for some families. And of course, we do BBQs and family gatherings as often as possible. 

It’s really fun to show some appreciation. Fathers work so hard and are great influences for good in this world. Every child needs a good father figure. And every good man deserves recognition for his efforts. Without the support of a father or father figure families aren’t balanced. I personally know I could not be the mother I am without my husband’s support.

Heavenly Father’s gifts

That leads me to my thoughts on our Heavenly Father. He loves and supports us in ways we don’t even know about. He gave us this Earth and all the wonderful bounty she provides. He is the father of our spirits and we lived with Him in Heaven before this Earth. We spent a lot of time learning and growing in His presence. He knew each of us personally. He still knows each of us personally.

Our Heavenly Father has provided more than life and this wonderful Earth for us. He also provided us with the Plan of Salvation. This earthly existence is for experience and learning. And when it’s over we all want to go back home to live with God again.

So our Heavenly Father gathered all His children together and presented the Plan of Salvation– a chance for us all to experience the fullness of joy that God knows. We were going to get to come to Earth and get bodies like our Father in Heaven has. We cheered when we heard the news.

But He knew that we would make mistakes. It is part of the learning process and a necessary part of life. God explained that we would need a Savior- one who could atone for all our sins and mistakes so that we could come back to live with God when our journey was over. That is when Jesus stood up and offered himself to be a sacrifice for all the rest of us. Not only did Jesus offer to be the Savior, but He also wanted the glory for His sacrifice to go to Heavenly Father. 

Heavenly Father provided a Savior

Then Lucifer stood up. He was also willing to be the Savior for mankind, but he had a slightly different plan. He wanted us all to go to Earth but to be unable to sin. Lucifer wanted to make it so that there was no free will, no choices to be made.

In this altered plan, he promised that every soul who came to Earth would be able to go back home to God as spotless as the day they were born. And Lucifer wanted the glory for that accomplishment to be his own, not giving any credit to God for all His work in making Earth life possible.

Do you know what happens when there is no free will, no ability to choose? There is no growth, only survival. Our experience on this Earth would have given us bodies, but we would not have learned anything. We are growing exponentially with the right to choose, make mistakes, and try again. If we had followed Lucifer this experience would have been a wasted opportunity. And it would have destroyed God’s plan to eventually help each of His children grow to their fullest potential.

Choices matter

Those two options are what started “the War in Heaven“. It was a war of ideas, and choosing sides. Because you are here on earth today, you know you chose Jesus as your Savior even before you were born. Sadly a full one-third of all God’s children chose to follow Lucifer and his plan. They refused to allow Jesus to be their Savior.

And when Lucifer continued to rebel and refused to follow Heavenly Father’s plan, Lucifer was cast out of Heaven and became Satan the father of all lies. All who followed Lucifer were also cast out and never got the chance to have bodies. Their progression stopped at that moment. I imagine it was a terrible time of grief and loss as we all had to say goodbye to those who were too afraid to trust themselves to choose the good.

Heavenly Father is still watching out for us

Today Heavenly Father is still doing all He can to ensure that we all get every chance to return to live with Him again. Jesus has already atoned for our sins.

We are so blessed to know about this, to know it already happened, and not to have to only hope for it in the future; like many of our ancestors did. Thanks to the scriptures we know all about how hard our Heavenly Father works for us. 

What a gift to know who we are, why we are here, and where we are going when we die. My knowledge of the Plan of Salvation and my Heavenly Father gives me peace and comfort in hard times. And it gives me joy and a sense of purpose in my everyday life. I love knowing that everyone I meet once chose Jesus. I will keep choosing Jesus, and I pray you will too.