My faith
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
What God gave me time for.
Before I had children, I promised myself I'd never be the mother who asked "Why did I ever want children?" but sometimes I find myself thinking "I don't want to do this anymore." It's kind of like the feeling I had toward the end of labor with my last two children. I was exhausted. Mentally, physically, and emotionally spent. That time in labor is called "transition." I also sometimes experience that feeling during a run. I just. Don't. Want. To. Keep. Going.
But with labor, there was only one alternative: have the baby. What a glorious reward for my pain and struggle! And I know that I always feel great after a run. I feel strong. I feel like I can do anything.
Motherhood is a little different. Frequently I find myself struggling along, wondering how I'm supposed to do a good job at all the necessary tasks, and I feel like I'm drowning in a sea of laundry. I used to think all the laundry jokes were exaggerated. They are not. When things get hard, when I feel like throwing in the towel, it's hard to see the silver lining. When, oh when will this end? When will my four-year-old stop whining? When will my 2-year-old stop screaming? And when will my baby start sleeping through the night?
I've had a lot of days recently where I'm changing 4 diapers an hour, staying up all night with one child or another, and dealing with tantrums, meltdowns, kids not sharing, not to mention trying to keep up with housework (which is just not happening right now!)
This morning, after changing yet another diaper, when I found myself thinking "I don't want to do this anymore," the next thought I had was "but what would I do instead?"
And then I realized that I wouldn't trade all the hugs and kisses, all the smiles and giggles, or even all the mundane or frustrating tasks, for anything else in the world. After all, this is what God gave me time for.
My three sweet children:
But with labor, there was only one alternative: have the baby. What a glorious reward for my pain and struggle! And I know that I always feel great after a run. I feel strong. I feel like I can do anything.
Motherhood is a little different. Frequently I find myself struggling along, wondering how I'm supposed to do a good job at all the necessary tasks, and I feel like I'm drowning in a sea of laundry. I used to think all the laundry jokes were exaggerated. They are not. When things get hard, when I feel like throwing in the towel, it's hard to see the silver lining. When, oh when will this end? When will my four-year-old stop whining? When will my 2-year-old stop screaming? And when will my baby start sleeping through the night?
I've had a lot of days recently where I'm changing 4 diapers an hour, staying up all night with one child or another, and dealing with tantrums, meltdowns, kids not sharing, not to mention trying to keep up with housework (which is just not happening right now!)
This morning, after changing yet another diaper, when I found myself thinking "I don't want to do this anymore," the next thought I had was "but what would I do instead?"
And then I realized that I wouldn't trade all the hugs and kisses, all the smiles and giggles, or even all the mundane or frustrating tasks, for anything else in the world. After all, this is what God gave me time for.
My three sweet children:
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Teaching the Doctrine of the Family
This speech from Julie Beck, who is the General Relief Society President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is an essential read!
A few gems:
President J. Reuben Clark Jr. said, “Your chief
interest, your essential and all but sole duty, is
to teach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ as
that has been revealed in these latter
days” (“The Charted Course of the Church in
Education” [address to seminary and institute
of religion leaders, Aug. 8, 1938]
We know, from visiting with [the youth] and
conducting studies, that they show a lack of
faith in their ability to be successful in families.
They don’t see forming families as a faith-based
work. For them, it’s a selection process much
like shopping. They don’t see it as something
that the Lord will bless them and help them to
accomplish. They also distrust their own moral
strength and the moral strength of their peers.
Because temptations are so fierce, they aren’t
sure they can be successful in keeping
covenants. They also have insufficient and
underdeveloped social skills, which are an
impediment to them in forming eternal families
A lot of the antifamily messages that you are
hearing are targeting young women. Satan
knows that he will never have a body; he will
never have a family. He will target those young
women who create the bodies for the future
generations and who should teach the families.
They don’t even know what they’re being
taught in the messages. It’s just seeping in,
almost through their pores. Because Satan can’t
have it, he’s luring away many women, and
also men, and they’re losing confidence in their
ability to form eternal families.
Oftentimes with young adults I’ll tell the story
about the day my husband and I were married.
We had three dollars. Even worldwide, that’s
not very much money nowadays. It was a faithbased work when we got married. We didn’t
get married because of money, or because our
education was complete, or because we even
had a place to live. We lived with Grandpa and
took care of him for the first season of our
marriage. We went to school and worked hard,
but we entered that relationship as a faith-based
work. We knew that we had made a covenant
with the Lord and that He would bless us. It
didn’t take money; it took faith. Those are
messages they need to have and get confidence
in because of you.
A few gems:
President J. Reuben Clark Jr. said, “Your chief
interest, your essential and all but sole duty, is
to teach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ as
that has been revealed in these latter
days” (“The Charted Course of the Church in
Education” [address to seminary and institute
of religion leaders, Aug. 8, 1938]
We know, from visiting with [the youth] and
conducting studies, that they show a lack of
faith in their ability to be successful in families.
They don’t see forming families as a faith-based
work. For them, it’s a selection process much
like shopping. They don’t see it as something
that the Lord will bless them and help them to
accomplish. They also distrust their own moral
strength and the moral strength of their peers.
Because temptations are so fierce, they aren’t
sure they can be successful in keeping
covenants. They also have insufficient and
underdeveloped social skills, which are an
impediment to them in forming eternal families
A lot of the antifamily messages that you are
hearing are targeting young women. Satan
knows that he will never have a body; he will
never have a family. He will target those young
women who create the bodies for the future
generations and who should teach the families.
They don’t even know what they’re being
taught in the messages. It’s just seeping in,
almost through their pores. Because Satan can’t
have it, he’s luring away many women, and
also men, and they’re losing confidence in their
ability to form eternal families.
Oftentimes with young adults I’ll tell the story
about the day my husband and I were married.
We had three dollars. Even worldwide, that’s
not very much money nowadays. It was a faithbased work when we got married. We didn’t
get married because of money, or because our
education was complete, or because we even
had a place to live. We lived with Grandpa and
took care of him for the first season of our
marriage. We went to school and worked hard,
but we entered that relationship as a faith-based
work. We knew that we had made a covenant
with the Lord and that He would bless us. It
didn’t take money; it took faith. Those are
messages they need to have and get confidence
in because of you.
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