Hold to the iron rod
Dec 22, 2019
A few years ago for family night we had a lesson on how clinging to the iron rod helps us remain standing in holy places. I set an Ensign magazine on the floor with a picture of a temple on it. I told my sons this was a holy place; I then showed them despite it being a holy place, if they just stood there, it was still easy to push them off of this holy place. I pushed them gently and they swayed, and I pushed harder and they stepped off and away from this holy place. They concluded that it was difficult to not be moved even when standing in a holy place. We discussed some things that would make it harder to be moved from sacred ground and out of holy places. My children felt if you said your prayers, studied your scriptures, obeyed the word of God and visited the temple, it would be harder to be moved. I then pulled out a rod and had them, one at a time, holdfast or cleave to the long pole while I firmly held it. The older and bigger brothers now came over to push them off of their holy place while they firmly held to the rod and stood tall. Despite being bigger and stronger, the oldest brothers couldn’t move the two youngest brothers from the magazine representing the holy place. Young Taft loved this game as he cleaved to the rod with all his strength and stood tall. His older brothers tried many times, but could not move Taft from his holy place. After many successful stands, Taft powerfully stated, “I never want to let go.” When we stand with the strength of God we never have to let go.