By Alan on May 19 in Blog tagged commitment, complement, Family, Father, fidelity, husband, Linda and Richard Eyre, love, man, marriage, married, mother, oneness, priesthood power, procreative power, relationship, stewardship, together, ways, wife, woman | No Comments

I Love Marriage.

A short essay on Linda, love and being a husband by Richard Eyre

I love mariage.  I love everything about marriage, even the disagreements and tough times.  I love having someone with whom I share everything and who knows everything about me, sometimes things I don’t even know myself.

I love partnership with my wife, full and total partnership where we literally try to share everything, even bank accounts, even our emails, even everything; and where there are no secrets, even little ones.

Neither of us is anything remotely close to perfect, and neither is our relationship, but I love the synergy of that and how all of my weaknesses seem to be made up and compensated for by Linda’s strength, and where, on our best days, our total is greater than the sum of its parts.

I love that we each have our own ways of doing things, very different ways that, again on our good days, complement each other and make possible things that neither of us could do on our own.

I have come to acknowledge and partially understand that Linda is, like all women, a complex organism and that if you try to change one little thing or one little part of her you might set off some kind of chain reaction that would alter the whole and end up changing the very things you love most about her.  Therefore, I tell her, in total honesty, that I would not change one little thing about her.  I have told her that so much, and explained the reasoning behind it, that I think she finally believes me.

I love the word “husband.”  It means stewardship, it means care, it means cherishing and taking care of.  But I think it also means partnership — the kind with complete respect and unbending commitment and fidelity.

I love that Linda’s role in our family is the most important one — that her instinctive and intuitive love of our children has guided their lives more than any other thing and that the title of “Mother” truly is the most important and influential and indispensable and irreplaceable role on this planet.

I love the fact that we share both the procreative power and the priesthood power — that neither can be fully or fruitfully used by one of us without the other.  I love that Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve said in his recent conference talk that just as a woman cannot have a child without a man, so a man cannot fully and eternally use the priesthood without the woman.

I love the poetic quality of that statement — that both procreative power and priesthood power must be shared between a celestially married man and woman.

 I love that an individual man or an individual woman is not a perfectible entity, but that a man and woman together are.

I even love what Benjamin Franklin said — that a single man is like a half a pair of scissors.  And I love the gospel knowledge that tells us that every one of God’s children, whether on this earth or hereafter, will have the opportunity of everlasting marriage and oneness and family glory.

Oh, by the way, and in case you couldn’t tell, I love Linda.

Note: Richard and Linda Eyre are New York Times No. 1 best-selling authors who lecture throughout the world on family-related topics.  Visit them anytime at www.EyresFreeBooks.com or at www.valuesparenting.com.

For The Family

By Alan on Sep 15 in Blog tagged America, Ann Romney, businessman, Christian, Family, Father, future President, hard work, husband, leader, Mitt Romney, needs, patriot, real american, The Family, wise | 3 Comments

See The Mitt We Know!

A REAL AMERICAN

HUSBAND,

FATHER,

FAMILY,

BUSINESSMAN,

LEADER,

PATRIOT,

CHRISTIAN,

AND FUTURE PRESIDENT!

For The Family

By Alan on Feb 14 in Blog tagged answers, caution, church, comfort, companion, confirmation, direction, dramatic, eternal, feelings, gifts, gyidance, heart, husband, Lord, love, nature, peace, pleading, pray, prayer, priesthood, revelation, seek, spirit, spiritual, warning, wife | Comments Off

May I take a moment to talk of some cautions that were taught to me regarding the gifts of the Spirit.

Too often people feel that answers to their prayers and their pleading for guidance and direction will be given in dramatic manifestations or through a direct voice giving specific directions from a heavenly host. My personal experience and my observation of the Brethren as they guide and direct the Church and solve problems has taught me that the answers come often times over an extended period of time with almost a natural solution whereby people take actions on the feelings of their hearts—which bring them peace and comfort—rather than through dramatic revelation.

Let me give you an example of how I learned this lesson. As a regional representative, I was traveling with President Marion G. Romney (1897–1988) to a stake conference for the selection of a new stake president. We had been driving in a car for more than an hour discussing the Church and priesthood administration. For some reason, I asked a question that, at the moment I asked it, I realized was inappropriate.

The question I asked President Romney was “What is the most spiritual experience you have had as an Apostle of the Lord?” There was a pause. It seemed like an eternity. Then he said, “I believe what Joseph Smith and Brigham Young taught, that if we would keep our spiritual experiences to ourselves, many more spiritual experiences could be shared with us.”

It seemed like there was a long period of silence after that remark, and then he said to me, “I owe you a better answer.” Then he gave me great counsel. He said the greatest spiritual experiences of his life had been when he had been on assignment from the President of the Church or the President of the Quorum of the Twelve, as we were that day. He said: “We will interview 25 or 30 priesthood brethren, and there will be more than one who will be qualified to be the stake president. But after we have done all we can do, we will get on our knees and pray to our Heavenly Father. We will tell Him of our feelings of who the new stake president ought to be and the reasons why. We will tell Him of the needs of the stake at this time. Then He will give us a confirmation.”

It was interesting that he said “us,” because it was true on that occasion that as we knelt and prayed, we both were able to receive a confirmation.

This is one of the best examples that I have had of what the gifts of the Spirit are and how they are manifest in our life’s work. Apply the principles taught by President Romney to understand that you can have discernment and confirmation of the concerns that confront you, such as choosing a companion or choosing a career that is best for you.

Isn’t it interesting that President Romney was sent to interview 25 or 30 men to choose one stake president rather than being told directly who it should be before his arrival? This is what the Lord means when He tells us to study it out in our own minds. Too often we want to be given answers to questions and problems that, if they were given in the manner we ask for them, would take away our agency and the blessings that come from reaching out to the Lord for answers and direction.

Some think it would be nice to have “spiritual fortune cookies” we could open to find the answers to life’s challenges. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a labeled jar we could reach into for our answers? But that is not the way it is meant to be.

I would like to express my love for my companion. I would not be what I am without her. I love her dearly. She has gifts of the Spirit. We study the scriptures together, and many of the concepts I teach have come because we have had companion study and prayer. That is why I am who I am, and I must acknowledge that.

Many of you young adults are in the process of choosing a companion, and you must go through a long process before you make your decision. You have spent years thinking about what qualities or attributes you would like your companion to have. But at the same time you must be working very hard to make yourself the type of person who will attract the companion you desire.

As you go through your dating and courting relationships, I would hope that you will assess the spiritual inclinations of the individuals you’re getting to know better. How is their testimony? How do they treat their parents? How do they treat their brothers and sisters? Do they respect authority? Do they love the Lord, His servants, and the scriptures? What plans do they have for their lives?

It isn’t enough if they are handsome or beautiful, if they are rich or poor, what kind of car they drive, what kind of clothes they wear, what kind of athletic ability they have, or what kind of intellect they are. You should be seeking to understand the gifts they have that will be eternal in nature.

BY ELDER ROBERT D. HALES

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

By admin on Feb 11 in Videos tagged alan, bad, Being Mothers and Fathers, children, choose, deny, Family, Father, Godliness, good, home, husband, job, learn, love, marriage, mother, Osmond, Suzanne, teach, tested, wife | 1 Comment

We are children of God and have come to earth to accomplish several things.

1. To get a body of flesh and bones, just like our Heavenly Parents have.
2. To experience Good and Evil and to have the right to CHOOSE ‘TheWay’ we wish to follow.  The Way of everlasting darkness, or The Way of Eternal Life.  2 Nephi 10:23
3. To learn and to seek for higher things that will improve our minds and give us good experiences.
4. To experience our feelings and to fight off the ‘Natural Man’ which is an enemy to God.
5. REpent of our sins and come unto Christ and follow Him.
6. To be baptized by one who is in authority for the remission of our sins and to take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ to always remember Him and to Keep His Commandments that His Spirit will always be with us.
7. To follow the Prophet of God and sustain The Twelve Apastles as Prophets, Seers, and Revelators.
8. To receive The Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands by one who is in authority.
9. To worthily take upon our selves both the Aaronic and the Melchizedek Priesthoods and to serve willingly in those callings.
10. To receive one’s holy endowments and prepare for eternal life to live in our Heavenly Fathers highest Kingdom.
11. To choose a partner and get married for time and for all eternity in a Temple or, The House of The Lord.
12. To do as commanded and multiply and replenish the earth by having children and caring for them.
13. To be true and faithful in the covenants we made and to serve side by side with our partner in raising a righteous posterity.
14. To serve as missionaries and to help others learn about Jesus Christ and His Restored Church with the fullness of the gospel..
15. To endure to the end in keeping the commandments and responsibilities as a member of Jesus’s Church.
16. To enjoy this life having Faith, Hope and Charity for all.
17. To have a mighty change of heart and to become of One Heart with clean hands and a pure heart.
18. Plus much more.  You need NOT be commanded in all things!

If you will do these things, you will know eternal happiness!

Alan

By Alan on Jan 17 in Blog, Videos tagged Alan love, daughter, divine, eternity, Family, girl, God, good, happiness, husband, Jesus, journal, love, marriage, men, mother, Osmond, sex, Son, songs, spirit, Suzanne, wife, woman, women, writer | 7 Comments

I love this girl of mine!  She is my best friend, my partner, my eternal companion, the mother of my children, my heart, my mind, my love, my life, forever my eternity!

When I was almost twenty five, I was lonely and writing in my journal one night after I had prayed to my Heavenly Father and letting Him know that I had dated a lot, kept my eyes open, went to church, dances, concerts, events, and had really tried to find that special one who I would marry and would live with me eternally.

I prayed to Father and said, “I’m really lonely. Would you help me and lead me to find the one… that girl who is right for me and me for her?”

Well, one week later, I met Suzanne.  My journal reads, “Tonight I met a ‘real girl’!”  Yes, Suzanne swept me off of my feet and we dated for about six months, the best 6 months of my life.  I was then going on a world concert tour with my family and I wanted her to go with me.  I didn’t know if we would ever be able to go around the world again and I knew I couldn’t taker her as a girl friend because it wouldn’t ‘look right’!  But, I knew that she was the one for me and that I loved her . . .  so I asked her to marry me!

After she fasted and prayed about it, she humbled me by saying yes!  I promised her to be true and faithful and to take good care of her and that we would marry  for time and for all eternity in a Temple of the Lord.  She was heaven sent and has blessed both of our lives with eight wonderful sons.

As a song writer, I wrote several songs about Suzanne, or at least with her in mind.  Some songs were written before I knew her but as I would write, I would picture what I thought she would look like in my mind and expressed how I felt.  A few songs were:

“Girl”.  ”That’s My Girl,  ”True Love”,  ”You’re Gonna Get Me To Heaven”, “Whose Gonna Get Suzanne”,  ”Darlin”, “Same Girl”,   “Carrie”, “Catch Me Baby”, “Do You Want Me”, “It’s You Babe”,  ”You’re Mine”, “Love Me” ,  ”Sho’ Would Be Nice”,  ”Tears On My Pillow”,  ”Trust My Love”,  ”We Can Make It Together”, “What Could ItBe”, “Big Al, His Gal, and His Pals”, for a few.

Besides being my wife and a wonderful women, Suzanne is my better half, a mother, companion, housekeeper, cook, shopper, nurse, councilor, chauffeur, baby sitter, hand holder, book keeper, psychologist, designer, seamstress, janitor, secretary, advisor, motivator, security guard, shopper, consultant, photographer, teacher, relief society president, temple worker, back scratcher, my right hand, watchful eye, listening ear, a feel bad hugger, nutritionist, grocery shopper, care giver, story teller, scripture quoter, financial accountant , dancer, piano player, singer, violinist, travel booker, good looker, great kisser, computer wiz, not in show biz, and most importantly . . . . she is the one that I love!

With all that she does, I really could not afford her but, I can’t afford to ever lose her, so I’m just gonna mind my business, work hard and be good!    :-)

By Alan on Jan 15 in Blog tagged audience, Branson, brother, child, children, church, compensation, deaf, dollar, donation, entertain, everlasting, Family, Father, fees, finance, foundation, generous, giving, God, grandchild, Grandfather, home, husband, important, Jesus, life, miracle, Missouri, money, Network, one heartt, paypal, plan, school, sister, support, thank you, warm, wive | Comments Off

The Family is God’s Plan of Life.

As an entertainer, and as a television. record, and live event producer, I realized with my wife Suzanne, that even with the many gold and platinum records, sell out concert tours around the world, recording and television studios, and over 50+ years of success in the entertainment industry, that what is MOST IMPORTANT in this world is, THE FAMILY!  I am also a husband, a father, a father-in law and a grandfather to ninteen grandchildren, and the most important credential I could have in life, is that I am a child of God.

My brothers and Sister and I even quit touring at one point so that we could be at home more and be with our wives and children and do what Fathers and Husbands should do.  We don’t just have children; we need to raise them as well.

At one point we all moved back to Branson, Missouri to work together in our own theater that my brother Jimmy found so that we could all stay together in one place in order for our families to live somewhat normal lives.  This way, we would still be able to continue our careers as entertainers with our children in school and to serve in our church callings, and by being good neighbors.  And now,  the audiences would come to us instead of us always traveling to them.  It worked well!

While we were in Missouri, ‘The Heart of America’, Suzanne and I developed further our internet and publishing companies and even formed a non-profit 501(c)(3) charity called One Heart Foundation to help “Strengthen Families”.  My Mother and Father had started the Osmond Foundation which is now better known today as the Children’s Miracle Network with about Six Billion dollars raised so far and donated for sick children in hospitals.  I helped produce those telethons and fundraisers and wanted to continue to give back by helping others.  We created a charity called One Heart, and have helped strengthen families by building schools with fresh water in under priviledged countries, donated hearing aids to deaf families, produced family valued media, videos and specials, events, donated with our crafters hundreds of thousands of warm clothing for Warming Families of the homeless and families in need, have been spokesmen for Families with the U.S. Olympics, made PSA’s and stood against drug use, pornography, abortion, and encouraged family preparedness, Family Awards, Family History and long lasting unity.

Now with TheFamily.com, which is an effort of One Heart to “Strengthen Families”, we are publishing several thousands of articles, pictures, videos, audio files with music, Free Newsletters all showing and teaching ‘The Way‘ to strengthen The Family Physically (The Body), Mentally (The Mind), Spiritually (The Spirit), Socially (To Be In The Word But Not Of It) and to strengthen The Family with its Grandparents, Fathers, Mothers, Teens, children, infants, and to encourage and teach Families ‘THE WAY’ to a happy and everlasting life.

We do this without doing much fundraising or financial gifting so far and it is taking many people who freely give of their time and talents to furthering this work.  Yes, there are costs and expenses that we need to cover.  We do not personally take any fees personally but could use any donations and charitable giving to keep meeting our charitable goals and to continue reaching and helping those in need.

If you feel that you would like to “BE OF ONE HEART” and click here to make a generous and secure donation to One Heart’s Pay Pal account towards “Strengthening Families” it would be most appreciated! We have made so many friends who have always been very supportive of our  causes that we support  and we can promise you with a track record from our past, that your donations will be used properly and ONLY for the cause of Strengthening The Family!

We thank you in advance for your support.

Alan and Suzanne Osmond

By Alan on Dec 25 in Blog tagged bad habit, better, energy, Family, feeling, fresh air, future, house, husband, kids, learning, life, marriage, talk, time, tired, TV, walk | Comments Off

As a Marriage and Family Counselor, I was particularly touched a few years ago by a plea from a client who sent me a note designating herself furtively as “Lady In Distress”. She said she loved her husband dearly, and appreciated so much how hard he worked for the good of their family.  But she had become concerned about what she called the disintegration of their family time.  It seems each night dad would arrive home at 6:00 and exhaustedly plop himself in front of the television to watch the news.  She’d have dinner ready promptly at 6:30 after which he’d head back to his Lazy Boy loungechair in front of the TV.  There he’d grab his remote and vegetate nightly.  Often he’d doze off and snore loud enough to make the cats leave the room, thoroughly annoyed..  Sometimes he’d chat with the kids if they happened to enter his domain to ask something, but was never willing to leave the general area…and certainly never willing to leave the house.

After considerable prodding from her, he finally agreed that he had fallen into some bad night-time habits, but said he was just too exhausted after working so hard and just wanted / needed to relax.  However he also agreed to listen to any suggestions I might have to offer, so at their request I gave him a little prescription with a promise that within 30 days it would improve both his energy level as well as family harmony.  It was simple, but effective.

Following dinner each night he was to put on a comfortable pair of shoes and with his wife, instead of migrating to the television they would head out the front door. He was to look at his watch and start off walking at a comfortable pace in whatever direction he wanted, but for just 15 minutes.  I told him at that point he could either stay where he was or turn around and walk home, which was a sneaky way to get him to be ambulatory for just 30 leisurely minutes each night.  He was then allowed to go back to watching TV the rest of the evening if he wished to.

Reluctantly, he agreed.  

To his surprise, after the first week he actually admitted to feeling better and even having more energy.  His second week I told him it was time to start alternating taking one of his kids along instead of his wife each time.

By the end of the month he said he had gotten to the point where he didn’t bother to even look at his watch anymore, but figured he was averaging a very enjoyable 90-minute stroll each night.  Often he would get acquainted with neighbors he never knew he had.  He also said he had started learning a lot about his kids.  He said although they weren’t too excited about going along with him at first, as soon as they realized they would have a chance to have dad all to themselves to talk to, they started fighting for their turn each week.  

Surprisingly (to him, at least), his flow of energy continued to increase over that first 30-day trial period and he said he was thrilled to see he had even dropped a pant size.  He also admitted to me privately that he liked the idea that now his kids will have future memories about taking these pleasant walks with dad instead of remembering him as the grumpy guy flopped incommunicado in front of the television each night.

So how ’bout you, dads?  Give up a half hour of tv each night?  You never know.  It could be the beginning of something really great in your life….and in your family’s also. What have you got to lose?

Best wishes to each of you for a healthier and more fulfilling family life in this coming year—

D.R.M.

— FAMILY WELL-BEING —

By Alan on Dec 13 in Daily Inspiration tagged blessing, dead, God, husband, Jesus, Mormon, ordinances, temple, wife, work, worship | Comments Off

Temple Work

“The duty of temple work has been laid upon this people. But it is more than a duty, it is a blessing. I am satisfied that if our people would attend the temple more there would be less selfishness in their lives. There would be less absence of love in their relationships. There would be more fidelity on the part of husbands and wives. There would be more love and peace and happiness in the homes of our people. There would come into the minds of the Latter-day Saints an increased awareness of their relationship with God, our Eternal Father and of the need to work a little harder at the matter of living as sons and daughters of God.”      –Gordon B. Hinckley