"And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 16:19).
This is what Jesus told Peter when He gave him this authority--this permission--to join families for eternity. In the LDS Church, we call it being sealed. No, this doesn't mean families are perfect, but it means that we love each other. Also, we are really into genealogy for that very reason.
Personally, though, I have always been interested in genealogy, even before I became a member of the LDS Church. I'm an avid fan--student, if you will--of history, and knowing my earthly roots has always been something that intrigued me. Growing up, I was always fascinating by artifacts: a postcard here, a Civil War bullet there, an oak dresser, etc. When I was sixteen, I got an assignment in my U.S. History class to trace back my family history to 1880 or beyond. Since I knew that I had had an ancestor that fought in Gettysburg, I decided to trace my line back to that man, so I actually went one generation beyond what was required for the assignment. I found interesting things in my genealogy, including one female ancestor that traveled along the entire east coast for work (I guess the travel bug really does run in our family). I even got to view a copy of a formal document that my great grandfather's brother had received, which was our lineage traced back to the Mayflower--all 31 generations (well, actually if you go up to me, then it would be 34). It was great.
So now I actually take the knowledge that I have, and my researching skills, and apply them so that I can discover more of my family tree. (Side note: anyone can discover their family tree, and it's really addicting! If you ever want to give it a try, you can do it for free and have access to tons of records at FamilySearch.org.)
Anyway, just a few thoughts for the day. Happy Saturday!
P.S. Here's a great video that further explains what I mentioned about families being together forever and why the LDS Church is into genealogy work.
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