Many of us grew up with a security blanket.  It typically started as an actual blanket for most of us when we were small children, one we couldn’t go to bed without.  Then as we grow older our parents and our home become our security blanket, the place we felt safe and secure.  And then the day comes when we move out of our home and away from our parents and we leave those security blankets behind.  It can be a scary time in life, going out on your own, facing the unknown world as an adult for the first time.  And this is when our security blanket becomes the loyalty we feel from our families. The loyalty we know our parents have for us. The loyalty we know our parents have for each other.  The loyalty we have for our brothers and sisters.  These bonds of loyalty become our security blankets that allow us to leave home and take on the unknown with excitement and hopeful anticipation.

I personally believe that feeling that loyalty is imperative for each of us to be able to go out and do our very best in the world. It allows us the security we need to try and fail and to pick ourselves back up again.   I think as parents we need to make sure we do everything we can to let our kids feel that loyalty we have for them.  I think that is the very best way we can boost their confidence.

I think in marriage there is no more important factor than loyalty.  I think having loyalty toward and from your spouse is what allows there to be absolute trust between you. Without that loyalty there is no trust and without trust a marriage is doomed to fail eventually.  The other night we took my children and their friends out to play and then to dinner.  On the way to dinner one of the boys received a call from his father who was upset with him for not being home when he said he would be.  Apparently this boy had told his mother he would be home at a certain hour and now he was well past it.  After he got off the call with his dad I asked him if everything was okay.  He said that his father was upset because he had told his mother he would be home and now he was late and his mother’s feelings were hurt because she had prepared a dinner for her son.  He went on to say that his father wasn’t upset for himself that the son was late, but he was upset because he didn’t appreciate the son hurting his mother’s feelings.  What an amazing example of love and loyalty that father set for his son by sticking up for his wife and her feelings.  I was so impressed with this father for doing that.  And I was even more impressed that the son recognized that his father was sticking up for his mother.  And despite the fact that the boy was in trouble, that young man clearly saw how much his father loves his mother and that gave that young man confidence and security beyond belief.  That father’s loyalty didn’t just let the mother know she was loved by her husband, it also let the child know of the father’s loyalty to his wife and family.   And what security and confidence that wife must feel knowing her husband is so loyal to her. What a marvelous affect it would have on families today if every husband was that loyal to his wife.

“Brethren, be loyal to your companion. May your marriage be blessed with an uncompromising loyalty one to another. Find your happiness with one another. Give your companion the opportunity to grow in her own interests, to develop her own talents, to fly in her own way, and to experience her own sense of accomplishment.”   -Gordon B. Hinckley

May we all work to be more loyal to our spouses and our families.  Uncompromising loyalty.  That should be our goal, for that is the best security blanket we could ever have in life.

Have a great day tomorrow everyone. I move my daughter into her dorm tomorrow.  The tears have already begun flowing…

~Amy