During the April 1974 conference, President Gordon B. Hinckley spoke movingly of the sealing power and the potential for marriage to endure eternally. The longing to be an eternal family with those that I love is one of the great motivating forces of my life. For me, there is nothing I want more than that eternal reunion that the Prophets have foretold. President Hinckley spoke to that deep longing with poignant words of both encouragement and warning:

“Every man who truly loves a woman, and every woman who truly loves a man, hopes and dreams that their companionship will last forever. But marriage is a covenant sealed by authority. If that authority is of the state alone, it will endure only while the state has jurisdiction, and that jurisdiction ends with death. But add to the authority of the state the power of the endowment given by Him who overcame death, and that companionship will endure beyond life if the parties to the marriage live worthy of the promise.”

How shortsighted so many of us are, how prone to look only at today without thought for the morrow. But the morrow will surely come, as will also come death and separation. How sweet is the assurance, how comforting is the peace that come from the knowledge that if we marry right and live right, our relationship will continue, notwithstanding the certainty of death and the passage of time. Men may write love songs and sing them. They may yearn and hope and dream. But all of this will be only a romantic longing unless there is an exercise of authority that transcends the powers of time and death.”

Wishful thinking will not get us the relationships we desire. Relying on the authority of the state will not do.  Singing songs of writing Shakespearean sonnets will not suffice. There is ultimately only one way. That way is through the sealing authority found in the holy temples of God.  If that is what we want, then we know what we need to do to get it. And we should except no substitute. We must live and act in order to inherit these blessings. No sacrifice is too great.

I am so happy to be sealed for time and eternity to my beautiful wife and daughters. And I long for the day when those same blessings will be extended backwards throughout my family tree for generations.