Mother's Day 2010

What a great quote by Elder Russell M. Nelson:

“During my professional career as a doctor of medicine, I was occasionally asked why I chose to do that difficult work. I responded with my opinion that the highest and noblest work in this life is that of a mother. Since that option was not available to me, I thought that caring for the sick might come close. I tried to care for my patients as compassionately and competently as Mother cared for me."

Many years ago the First Presidency issued a statement that has had a profound and lasting influence upon me. 'Motherhood,' they wrote, 'is near to divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind. It places her who honors its holy calling and service next to the angels.'

It is no secret that I would love to be a stay at home mom more than anything in the world. I have been feeling overwhelmed at all of the responsibilities of teaching my boys what they need to know, helping them with homework, taking them to their various activities, supporting them when they are sad, rejoicing with them when they have done something they think is super cool when I am so tired from working. I want to be involved in their lives, not just sit on the sidelines. I love this quote from a talk by M. Russell Ballard:

"There is no one perfect way to be a good mother. Each situation is unique. Each mother has different challenges, different skills and abilities, and certainly different children. The choice is different and unique for each mother and each family. Many are able to be “full-time moms,” at least during the most formative years of their children’s lives, and many others would like to be. Some may have to work part-or full-time; some may work at home; some may divide their lives into periods of home and family and work. What matters is that a mother loves her children deeply and, in keeping with the devotion she has for God and her husband, prioritizes them above all else."

Oh how I love being a mother. It is the greatest of all I could ever imagine. I am grateful for my four beautiful and precious boys that have taught me more about myself and helped me grow as a person as I try to raise them the best way I can. I am grateful for excellent role models: my mom, my grandmother, my mother in law, aunts, my sister, my sister in laws...each have added so much to my life. I watch how my sister and my sister in laws interact with their little ones and I gleen what I can to incorporate it into my own child rearing and I hope as I get older I can have the wisdom that I see in my more experienced examples.

Here is a snippet from President Hinckley: "God bless you, dear friends. Do not trade your birthright as a mother for some bauble of passing value. Let your first interest be in your home. The baby you hold in your arms will grow quickly as the sunrise and the sunset of the rushing days. I hope that when that occurs you will not be led to exclaim as did King Lear, “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child!” (King Lear, I, iv, 312). Rather, I hope that you will have every reason to be proud concerning your children, to have love for them, to have faith in them, to see them grow in righteousness and virtue before the Lord, to see them become useful and productive members of society. If with all you have done there is an occasional failure, you can still say, “At least I did the very best of which I was capable. I tried as hard as I knew how. I let nothing stand in the way of my role as a mother.” Failures will be few under such circumstances."

Happy Mother's Day to all!