PROVO, Utah — Sister Amy A. Wright’s family loves doing jigsaw puzzles together. Sister Wright, first counselor in the Primary general presidency, said a puzzle is “a subtle invitation” beckoning everyone to gather, sit, talk, laugh, share and create.
But it is almost impossible to understand the purpose of a single puzzle piece by itself, she said; it needs the context provided by the other pieces. That is why her family members start a puzzle by assembling the edges — “the foundational sides” — and gradually work their way in. If they find a piece that does not seem to fit, they set it aside until they have additional perspective.
This process of completing a puzzle, Sister Wright said, can also apply to understanding the divinely inspired, prophetic counsel found in “The Family: A Proclamation to the World.”
“This revelatory document underscores the foundational importance of marriage and children, most specifically how marriage and children are fundamental to the plan of salvation — God’s plan of happiness,” Sister Wright said.
She made the puzzle analogy on Thursday, Sept. 25, during her keynote address at Brigham Young University’s conference for the proclamation’s 30th anniversary.
The two-day conference, Sept. 25-26, had the theme “Experiencing Jesus Christ Through the Family Proclamation” and featured a variety of speakers, including BYU professors and Wheatley Institute researchers.
4 foundational truths
During her keynote address, Sister Wright explored the proclamation’s “four foundational truths”:
- Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God.
- The family is central to the Creator’s plan.
- All human beings, male and female, are created in the image of God.
- Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal and eternal identity and purpose.
Regarding the first truth — “marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God” — Sister Wright said Jesus Christ and His infinite Atonement make eternal families possible.
The Old Testament prophet Elijah held the sealing keys before the Savior’s birth, Sister Wright continued, and the angel Elijah later restored those same sealing keys to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in the Kirtland Temple on April 3, 1836.
Regarding the second truth — ”the family is central to the Creator’s plan” — Sister Wright said raising and teaching children is intended to be “a holy and divine experience,” offering a deeper understanding of God as one participates more intimately in His consecrated work.
“To truly love our family in the way Jacob describes [in Jacob 3:7], we must first be filled with the love that comes from Jesus Christ,” Sister Wright said.
Regarding the third truth — “all human beings, male and female, are created in the image of God” — Sister Wright said the cycle of human life is possible only because men and women are “divinely and uniquely created distinct and different.”
Different is not bad, Sister Wright said; it is simply different. And there is power, purpose and immense potential in those differences.
“The miracle of it all, if we choose, is we can equally partake, 100%, of the exact same blessings, the greatest of which is eternal life and exaltation,” Sister Wright said.
Regarding the fourth truth — “gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal and eternal identity and purpose” — Sister Wright quoted Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: “[Gender] in large measure defines who we are, why we are here upon the earth and what we are to do and become” (“Marriage Is Essential to His Eternal Plan,” Ensign, June 2006).
Sister Wright said Heavenly Father wants people to need each other. “Men need women and women need men physically, emotionally and spiritually,” she said. “And prophetic counsel and secular research confirm that children desperately need both.”
A call to action
Ultimately, “The Family Proclamation” ends with a call to action, Sister Wright said — an invitation to walk, love, serve and forgive as the Savior did. The path of discipleship is not easy, but because God first walked that path, no one has to walk it alone, she said.
“When we choose God the Father and His Only Begotten Son, … we are also choosing to be part of an eternal family with the capability of eternal increase,” Sister Wright said. “We are choosing to retain the cherished titles of husband, wife, father, mother, son, daughter throughout the eternities. …
“All of this is possible because of Jesus Christ, He who, when worlds without number hung in the balance, did not shrink.”
