The Inspiration

The inspiration for this blog came shortly after General Conference a few weeks back after Elder M. Russell Ballard gave his fantastic talk entitled "Daughters of God". His remarks were focused on young mothers. While all of his remarks were absolutely fantastic, one part of his talk served as the inspiration for this little blog. He organized his talk into four questions that he responded to with his "four generations" of wisdom and observations. The first question that he responded to was "What can you do, as a young mother, to reduce the pressure and enjoy your family more?". One of his bits of advice in response to this questions was as follows: "Recognize that the joy of motherhood comes in moments. There will be hard times and frustrating times. But amid the challenges, there are shining moments of joy and satisfaction." He then goes on to encourage us not to over schedule ourselves and to be sure to savor those moments in our children's lives.

Since listening to President Ballard's talk I have found myself looking at motherhood and it's daily tasks through completely different lenses. I realize how many learning moments and life moments there are to just pause and enjoy and ponder on. They are those little moments when Garrett gets home and when I take the time to get excited with MaKenzie about Daddy walking through the door, rather than getting too focused on the dinner I'm pulling together or the telephone that is ringing. They are those little moments when I need to pause and get down on my hands and knees and just play with MaKenzie and watch her learn and grow rather than being so concerned about the next thing on my to do list. Since I have put on these "new lenses" I have found motherhood less challenging and more enjoyable. I'm not as wound up at the end of the day, and I'm not as worried about what else needs to be done. (And guess what - it all gets done anyway WITHOUT the worries - surprise, surprise there huh?) I have slowed life down a little bit to enjoy each interaction with my family as much as I can.

While this blog most likely won't be filled with all the happy moments, I feel that I can learn from recording these small events in my day and maybe even have something to pass onto my daughters who will one day find themselves dealing with the daily challenges of motherhood . . .