To Be a Mother in Zion...

I've been having a rather difficult summer.  My plans have not been adding up the way I wanted them to, with my husband's knee surgery, preschool complications, and other unexpected things, I've been feeling a lot of stress.  Life is tough, and I am dealing with a lot of raw emotions.  Sadly, my mothering skills are too often in slacking mode.  I feel as though I am in meet-basic-needs mode and I can't get out of it.

While sitting in the "Family Relations" class at church the other Sunday, we were asked to read a talk by President Ezra Taft Benson titled, "To the Mothers in Zion" for our homework.  My first instinct was to ignore it since I felt guilty enough already but I started it anyway, and then spent the next several minutes reading it in class.  It is a gem.  I don't remember a lot about President Benson's time as Prophet (1985-1994) since I was pretty young, but from reading the words he said, I feel that he speaks quite directly.  I usually enjoy that, and it was no different in this talk.

President Benson begins directly with a statement that is so true, it rings in my bones.  "Spending time with your children is the greatest gift of all."  That's it.  T-I-M-E time.  Precious and fleeting though it is, and perhaps because that is exactly what it is.  My eyes start to well and my chest tightens because I know that this is the important thing, and yet is so easy to run out of.  However, he then gets specific and gives ten ways to spend effective time with our children.

1. Be at the Crossroads
2. Be a Real Friend
3. Read to Your Children
4. Pray with Your Children
5. Have Weekly Home Evenings
6. Be Together at Mealtimes
7. Read Scriptures Daily
8. Do Things as a Family
9. Teach Your Children
10. Truly Love Your Children

So, to help me internalize these principles, I'm giving myself an assignment.  For six weeks I will read this talk each Sunday and try to incorporate the ideas into my weekly activities.  Then I will write a summary report.

As I said in the beginning of this post, it's been an emotionally draining and difficult summer for me.  I feel that I often get caught up in the monotony of dishes, laundry, cleaning, wiping faces/hands/feet, cleaning muddy footprints/shoes/hands/fingernails/faces, cooking, and dishes again and forget to enjoy where I am.  My small children, the joys of their small triumphs and failures, the excitement of dirt/shovels/water/bugs, and their growth that is a seemingly indirect result of all the pure grunt labor and sacrifice I make every day.

And then, as I write this, I remember that times we played in the hose, watered the garden together, went to the park, read books or just talked.  Those are the happy times.  I want more of them.  And that is purely up to me.  The kids will find those imaginative opportunities.  But if I want to be a part of them, their imaginations, their joys, and their triumphs, I'll have to take that time, let other things go and BE a part of it.

#26 Build a Sandcastle

Here it is.  The kids especially loved the hole inside.  I officially got my hands dirty and sculpted some sand.  It was more fun than I thought it would be.