Is Family History Fun?

https://www.lds.org/church/news/fun-vs-joy-elder-bednar-says-joy-is-enduring-and-eternal?lang=eng

A Campus Devotional at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah on December 4, 2018, featured Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He talked about the differences between "fun" and "joy." Much of what he had to say is directly applicable to those who are members of the Church and are involved in the pursuit of their family history or genealogy for the purpose of generating names for Temple ordinances. You can read the entire talk in the LDS. org article entitled, "Fun vs. Joy: Elder Bednar Says Joy Is Enduring and Eternal."

The reason for writing about this issue and referring to the talk by Elder Bednar comes from the current trend advocated by some that portray family history as "fun." This characterization has always concerned me because I see very little about the subject of family history that should be so characterized. Referring to the talk given by Elder Bednar, he states,

“Joy comes from exercising faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, worthily receiving and faithfully honoring sacred ordinances and covenants, and striving to become deeply converted to the Savior and His purposes,” he said. “Fun is the result of amusement, playful and often boisterous action or speech, or pleasurable diversion.” 

While a day spent on rides at Disneyland is considered fun, joy comes through worthily preparing for and participating in the ordinance of the sacrament. 

“Joy primarily is spiritual; fun primarily is temporal,” he said. “Joy primarily is enduring; fun primarily is temporary. Joy primarily is deep and rich; fun primarily is shallow. Joy primarily is whole and complete; fun primarily is partial. Joy primarily pertains to mortality and eternity; fun pertains only to mortality. 

“How important it is for us to never confuse or trade the enduring, deep joy of devoted discipleship for temporary and shallow fun.”

Compiling your family history may involve many pleasurable activities, but as you can see from these comments, family history activities certainly fall well into the "joy" category rather than simple and very temporal. It is the shallowness of fun that makes it inconsistent with the work and dedication necessary to search out your ancestors and then take their names to the Temples. Perhaps, rather than characterizing family history activities as fun, we can focus on the long-term joyful aspects of seeing our ancestors given the opportunity to benefit from the ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ while in the Spirit World.

If members of the Church are told that family history can be a fun activity, how is that concept reconciled with the need to spend a considerable time searching through old records or learning complex computer programs? Some family history activities can be "fun" but they are not necessarily productive of work towards finding ancestral names for Temple ordinances.

For example, there are many valuable family history activities that help families become more united and may help family members develop an interest in doing the research necessary to find family members. But the joy that is derived from these activities comes when the work is actually accomplished. I think is it time that we realize that fun can lead to joy, but the true joy of living the Gospel comes from doing the work.

If you need some help with family activities that can provide an environment for joy, there are many suggestions in The Family History Guide Family Activities Section.

https://thefhguide.com/act-family.html

Meanwhile, let's focus on the joy of doing family history work and not worry about whether or not what we are doing is fun.