Fertility & Infertility & the Gift of Life

I am so extremely grateful for the wonderful blessings that our Father in heaven has entrusted us with. We may not realize, but he loves us so much. He has given us the sacred power to procreate. He wants to send us His children so that they too, can become more like him. Many people are able to have children and celebrate the gift of life, whereas others have had many problems with infertility.

David holding Tommy.

Just as I said above and just as it says in The Family: A Proclamation to the World, procreation is a sacred power. Having sex and having children is something that should happen within the bounds of a legal marriage. Many people in today's society believe that premarital sex is something that is okay to do. People do not realize that the bonds made is something that should be between two people who are married together.

As men and women employ "the sacred powers of procreation...lawfully wedded as husband and wife", they invite children into their homes. Caring for and nurturing infants, toddlers, young children, and teenagers enables mothers and fathers to obtain greater "faith, hope, charity, and love" (D&C 4:5) as well as "virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, humility, [and] diligence" (D&C 4:6).  The things that husbands and wives are able to do with one another is beyond amazing. These married couples have one of the greatest responsibilities to teach their children about what God wants.

Lena-the sweet girl with bright blue eyes

Currently, the predicted average of how many children each woman will have in her lifetime is 2.4 children. I can see this in many of the people that I know, but there are plenty of people who I know who have way more than 2.4 children. There are plenty of reasons as to why people aren't having as many kids. Some reasons is there is a decrease in the economic value of children; there is a fear of overpopulation; there are several countries where there is a government pressure to not have as many kids-in this case, many people give up girls because they want a boy who can carry on the family name; more couples are choosing to remain childless; and there are more people using contraceptive. I think that another reason why people aren't having kids or as many kids, is because they have medical problems. My family has had several people who have something called Poly-Cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). I myself suffer from PCOS, several of my aunts have PCOS, and several of my cousins have PCOS. PCOS is a genetic syndrome where the female's body doesn't create enough of a certain hormone, making it so that an egg doesn't get released from her ovaries. There are actually several other health problems that are linked to PCOS such as: glucose intolerance (pre-diabetes), diabetes, depression/anxiety, sleep apnea, unhealthy cholesterol, and endometrial cancer.

The gift of life is something so sweet and so precious. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we know that our body is a temple. We learn this in 1 Corinthians 3:16. "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God..."

Our bodies are temples.

Elder Lynn A. Mickelson, previously a member of the quorum of the seventy, elaborated on the importance of the principle that we "are created in God's image" (Moses 2:27). "We are created in the image of God. The union of he flesh with the spirit can bring us a fulness of joy. Teach your children to respect the sanctity of human life, to revere it and cherish it. Human life is the precious stepping-stone to eternal life, and we must jealously guard it from the moment of conception."
Life in all stages is beautiful. Babies are beautiful as they grow inside their mother's tummies. And even more beautiful and precious as they make an entrance into the world. Then you watch them grow up. They learn and they continue to grow and be beautiful. They become adults, and start having their own babies. They grow older, and give advice to their children and grandchildren, maybe even great-grandchildren. Then they pass away, and as sad as it is to lose somebody, it can be a joyous celebration. You can celebrate all of their accomplishments and remember them through your days.