Remember how one of my New Year goals was to grow spiritually and instill a love for Christ in my children? I got to thinking about that yesterday as Carlin made a hasty retreat out of Sacrament meeting carrying our crying, screaming, kicking son and I rocked Lillian in her car seat hoping she would sleep just a little bit longer.
Church is 3 hours. Three! Three hours in which I spend half my time pacing the halls with one child or the other. If I'm not pacing the halls I'm in the mother's room nursing. Our meetings don't even start until 11am and yet we are lucky to make it on time. Even with preparation the night before, (laying out clothes, packing the diaper bag) something is bound to happen Sunday morning that puts us behind schedule. To top it all off the 11am time period puts us right smack dab in the middle of lunch and nap times... Sometimes it seems so much easier to just stay home with the kids and tell Carlin to take notes for me.
Our daily family prayers and scripture studies should really be referred to as our daily wrestling match with Samuel. Seriously, I sometimes think thumping our son with the Bible would be just as effective as us reading it. Praying is often a shouting match against the crying. As for personal scripture study, I seem to fall asleep more often than not (and that's doing it during the day, i.e. naptimes). As for personal prayer, well, these days I'm praying ALL the time (mainly for patience).
I try my best at other things, like reading the Ensign and holding weekly Family Home Evenings, but I'm sometimes so exhausted it's hard for me to recognize the Spirit. And so that brings me to my pondering yesterday in Sacrament meeting when I found myself asking "is it really worth it all?" That's when an incident popped in my head from a few days ago. Samuel had pulled out my pots and pans and was "cooking." He dished his food into his little bowl and grabbed his spoon. As I watched he then folded his little arms, closed his eyes, and started babbling to his Heavenly Father. With what was an obvious "amen", he then proceeded to eat his food.
It was a quiet confirmation to me that yes, it really is all worth it.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
About Me
- Aubrey
- A wife, a Mormon, a daugther, a sister, a friend... but mostly, a Mother. These are our adventures and this is my story.
From the Mouth of Babes
Samuel (after Carlin spilled water on his shirt): "Daddy, you disgust yourself."
July 2013
Me: "You guys need to clean-up the play-doh."
Samuel: "Mommy, you just need to control yourself."
Me: "What? - Why do I need to control myself?"
Samuel: "You just need to control yourself Mommy, we are playing."
January 2013
Me: "Lillian, you're such a pretty girl."
Lillian: "No!"
Me: "Yes you are!"
Lillian: "No, I a child of God!"
June 2012
Samuel: "Mommy, I need a haircut."
Me: "You do?"
Samuel: "Yes. My hair is freaking me out!"
May 2012
Lillian: "I hear a gog!"
Me: "I hear a dog too!"
Samuel: "I hear a dog one!"
Feb. 21, 2012
Samuel: "Mommy, I have hiccups in my mouth."
Feb. 20, 2012
July 2013
Me: "You guys need to clean-up the play-doh."
Samuel: "Mommy, you just need to control yourself."
Me: "What? - Why do I need to control myself?"
Samuel: "You just need to control yourself Mommy, we are playing."
January 2013
Me: "Lillian, you're such a pretty girl."
Lillian: "No!"
Me: "Yes you are!"
Lillian: "No, I a child of God!"
June 2012
Samuel: "Mommy, I need a haircut."
Me: "You do?"
Samuel: "Yes. My hair is freaking me out!"
May 2012
Lillian: "I hear a gog!"
Me: "I hear a dog too!"
Samuel: "I hear a dog one!"
Feb. 21, 2012
Samuel: "Mommy, I have hiccups in my mouth."
Feb. 20, 2012
Book Quotes
Friends & Family
Fun Websites
Favorite Books & Authors
- Abhorsen Trilogy
- Freakonomics
- Nicholas
- The Help
- Hunger Games Trilogy
- Ender's Game
- Fisher of Men Series
- The Great Gatsby
- Ella Enchanted
- Lust for Life
- Harry Potter
- Scriptures
- Shannon Hale
- Jane Austen
- Gail Carson Levine
- Robin McKinley
- Donna Jo Napoli
- Daphne DuMaurier
- Rebecca
- Beauty
- Pride & Prejudice
- Goose Girl
- Patrick F. McManus stories
6 comments:
It's sometimes hard to see the elephant from the trunk. With time we'll get the bird's eye view and see the work is worth it. Great post!
I feel the exact same way...more often than I should. And then there is that "shining moment", when when my kids do something "spiritual" and I realize that the connections are being made, and lessons are being learned.
I too pray for patience. I gave a talk last sunday in sacrament on "emulating Christ-like virtues"...how I wish that I had patience; it truly is a Christ-like virtue. You know that feeling that you get when you are preparing for a talk...like you are the one who needs to be taught the lesson, more than the people you're speaking too? (maybe that is just me, but I sure felt that way) I feel like I used to have so much patience, Aubrey (you know, back before kids, jobs, husband, and potty training) and now, I'm fighting tooth and nail for it.
Thanks for this post. It was a good reminder.
I loved this.
So, so true. It is worth it, though it can often be hard to see at the time. It does get better though as the kids get older...especially when they start to talk more and tell you about jesus and the sacrament and what-not. It makes church and what-not a little easier to handle.
Oh, and I don't know if you have one of the illustrated kid bibles/BofMs from the distribution center or not, but I HIGHLY recommend them. Our kids love 'em and will even (kinda sorta) listen during night readings.
I hear you! My kiddies are a little older, too, and I still struggle with feeling the spirit as I wrestle them throughout. But, I do notice when Jos asks a spiritual question or Gav can relate a scripture story we'd covered a little while back. It does make it worth it. I love the phrase "there's a time and a season"...my stake pres. took the time to really visit with me during a t. recommend interview and he reminded me of that when I told him how often I DON'T feel the spirit at church and just try to get through Sunday. He reminded me that the Lord understands what we're going through-and appreciate what we do.
Thank you for this post!!
I love this post! I should read your blog much more often. To think we just had our dialog about patience and God's timing.
Post a Comment