Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Motherhood Is...


I have been contemplating this post for a while now. I wanted to write about Motherhood. I wanted to write about how I feel about being a Mother. I wanted to write about what it means to me. I have been pondering several questions about Motherhood. Like; What kind of Mother do I want to be? Who do I want my children to remember (the screaming, raving lunatic? or the funny sassy Mama?) What do I want my legacy to be? What kind of parents do I want my children to be?

As I have been thinking about these things, a few events in my life have really given me direction with this. First was a lesson given in Church about the Divine Roles of Mothers. The second was this fabulous series done at Sew Liberated called Motherhood Is... I really enjoyed reading what Motherhood means to four different Mothers. So different, yet so similar.

Today I give you my thoughts on Motherhood. My feelings about Motherhood change and develop daily, but right now, this is where they are and how I am feeling.

I remember very vividly October 2007. We were in our rental house here in Logan and were listening to the General Conference of our Church. Sister Julie B. Beck stood and gave a talk that changed the way I looked at being a Mother; Mothers Who Know.

At first, I got really defensive. I think it was because I was having a very difficult day being the Mother of a 3 and 1 year old. I was very upset that my children were not the perfect little people that I thought I would have if I did everything right. However, upon further study of this fabulous article, I have found that I have peace. I have peace that I am doing everything I can and that I am being a Mother who knows.

Over the next little while, I am going to highlight bits of this talk she gave. Right now I am trying to really slow down, relax and enjoy my children. Because I am making a concerted effort to slow down, this bit has really been speaking to me.

Mothers Who Know Do Less
Mothers who know do less. They permit less of what will not bear good fruit eternally. They allow less media in their homes, less distraction, less activity that draws their children away from their home. Mothers who know are willing to live on less and consume less of the world's goods in order to spend more time with their children—more time eating together, more time working together, more time reading together, more time talking, laughing, singing, and exemplifying. These mothers choose carefully and do not try to choose it all. Their goal is to prepare a rising generation of children who will take the gospel of Jesus Christ into the entire world. Their goal is to prepare future fathers and mothers who will be builders of the Lord's kingdom for the next 50 years. That is influence; that is power.


So, Motherhood to me, right now, is doing less. The snow is melting, the sun is shining and I can see signs of Spring all around me. I am building forts, sewing dresses, weeding the garden, pushing the swing and taking walks. I am doing less and pray that doing so, I am building stronger character in my children. I am doing less and pray that it will, to my children, seem that I am doing more.

5 comments:

Erin said...

Motherhood is beautiful, as is this post. You summed it up by saying it's about doing less. It's about sitting on the couch and snuggling, about swinging, running, and jumping.

Sarah said...

one of my favorite posts ever. EVER.

Lisa R.D. said...

I loved your post--the talk you quoted from stirred quite a bit of controversy at first (so I saw on blogs, comments, etc.) but as I have read and studied it more and more I feel more empowered and capable as a woman and as a mother. I loved your thoughts and look forward to hearing more of your insight.

Mrs.Naz@BecomingMe said...

Very very beautiful and convicting

Linn said...

So beautiful! Thanks for this Kim!