"Heaven is not so much a place. It is a quality of relationship," said Tuesday’s BYU-Idaho devotional speaker.
Jenet Erickson is an associate professor in religious education at Brigham Young University, and a research fellow at the BYU Wheatley Institute.
In her devotional address titled “Designed for Love and Connection. Designed for Family,” Erickson highlighted that people are designed to love and be loved as they build relationships with their family and friends.
“We are deeply relational beings, designed not for independence, but for radical dependence and connection,” Erickson said. “We are designed for family."
In an interview with BYU-Idaho Radio, Erickson told listeners how critical and beneficial their relationships can be in their lives.
“There's something very significant that happens to us as we invest in the development of other people, and us coming together in a marriage,” Erickson said in the interview.
Speaking on marriage specifically, Erickson said growth can be found through faith.
“Those relationships are our liberation ironically, because they enable our expansion and development, growth, meaning, and purpose, in ways that are limited otherwise," she said.