“Let Your Families Be Small”

In March 1833, the Lord gave the following guidance to church members in Kirtland, Ohio:

Let your families be small, especially mine aged servant Joseph Smith’s, Sen., as pertaining to those who do not belong to your families;

That those things that are provided for you, to bring to pass my work, be not taken from you and given to those that are not worthy.

Doctrine and Covenants 90:25-26

There wasn’t a lot Joseph Smith, Sr. could do about the size of his immediate family at that point. He had 11 children, 8 of whom were still living at that time. Anyway, the Lord wasn’t talking about literal family members, but people whom we love and may want to support as if they were family.

Joseph Smith (Jr.) later taught, “A man filled with the love of God, is not content with blessing his family alone, but ranges through the whole world, anxious to bless the whole human race” (Letter to the Quorum of the Twelve, 15 December 1840). God wants us to care about all of His children, and as we draw closer to Him, our circle of love and concern naturally expands. But our resources are still limited. The Lord seems to be saying, “Your heart is in the right place, but you have to be realistic about what you can reasonably give.”

After the miraculous conversion of King Benjamin’s people, he urged them to be good parents and to support the poor and needy in their community. But he cautioned, “see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength” (Mosiah 4:27).

Later in the 1833 revelation, the Lord gave specific instructions to Vienna Jaques, a relatively well-to-do church member. He told her to relocate to Missouri with sufficient funds “to bear her expenses,” where she would “receive an inheritance from the hand of the bishop.” She should consecrate her remaining funds to the church, and the Lord promised that she would be “rewarded in mine own due time” (Doctrine and Covenants 90:28-30). Consecrating her wealth to the church was a tremendous act of faith, yet it occurred within a context of providing for her immediate and future needs.

Today, as I review our family’s budget, I will ensure that we are balancing a desire to bless others with a realism about what we can do. I will remember the Lord’s caution to Joseph Smith Sr. and Benjamin’s caution to his people. I will strive to be generous and helpful, while also being a responsible steward of the resources God has entrusted to me.