In his devotional address during the Education for Daily Living and Time Out for Women conference at BYU-Hawaii on August 12-13, President Eric B. Shumway reminded everyone that "heaven's system is a family system, and families are ordained of God as an extension of heaven's system on earth."
"The idea of family is not a human or mortal invention, not a social construct emerging out of some human necessity merely," President Shumway said. "It is a gift of God. We were all born into God's family as spirit children, and as we learn in D&C 76, the inhabitants [of the world] are the begotten sons and daughters of God."
He acknowledged "not all of us may belong to complete families. Some are single parents, some have not married yet, others are widows. But we all belong to families in some important relationship and must struggle to make them as complete and as protected as possible. As Sheri Dew reminded us in a classic conference talk a few years ago, we are all mothers. Even fathers should be good at mothering. God's children on earth need them."
President Shumway told of his own extended family reunion this summer in Laie, and the joy of having several generations gather at their house, including youngest daughter Emily, who is currently serving with her husband in the Peace Corps.
"Some of their colleagues and other professionals in the Peace Corps are amazed, if not a bit offended, that Emily intends to be a full-time mother and raise a family," the president continued, adding some of these felt she was throwing her life away or not reaching her full potential by doing so.
"In the context of families and marriages we have a sense, even a vision, of the makeup of the cosmos and the reality of Heaven," he said, explaining that Heavenly Father defines His work and glory, not in galactic or astronomical terms, but rather in the context of family and his children, for this is my work and my glory to bring to past the immortality and the eternal life of man." (Moses 1:39)
"Thus His work is His children. His glory is His children. We are His glory. The soul of each one is precious to Him," he said. "Our family, too, whatever type it may be, is our work and our glory and is part of God's work and glory. It is our contribution to nurture each other, our spouses and our children. And as we do this, we become part of the greater work and glory of our Heavenly parents in the universe."
"This is the purpose of life. This connects us to our Heavenly Father's universal purposes," he said.
President Shumway also shared several vignettes about his wife, other women in his extended family and "some of the most noble and most generous daughters of God on the planet" he has known on campus and in the community.
"God honors faithful women who in courage and optimism carry on and on and on. In that faithfulness there is an irresistible, intrinsic power among them that shines forth and nourishes all souls around them," he said. "They become, in spite of their heartache and sorrow, both repositories and powerful conduits of divine love."