The Old Testament’s final word is a witness that speaks to the centrality of family. Without our hearts turning to family—fathers to their children and children to their fathers, the whole earth would be cursed, … wasted, … for naught.
The “welding together of dispensations, and keys, and powers, and glories” that must take place to bind “the days of Adam even to the present time” is done through The Family. (D&C 128:18) It is the structure that Heavenly Father will use to organize His family.
In spite of the challenges family relations might bring us from time to time, among the many beautiful truths revealed is that “we belong.” We belong to our ancestors, we literally have a tribe, God is our Father, Jesus is our brother and our place in the chain of our family matters.
In Zechariah 8:8 he tells us: “They shall be my people, and I will be their God…” His love, his desire for us to return is not in question. Rather, life is an exercise in us choosing Him.
Will we worship Him?
Will we let Him change us?
Will we turn our hearts?
God’s design is for us to do that through the challenges and joy of family.
“ … the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.” (The Family: A Proclamation to the World)