It’s quiet now that the littles are finally tucked in. It’s been a long week. Motherhood is so challenging and beautiful and so tiring and exhilarating all at once. Sometimes the moments are ripe and rich with wonder and other times they’re just not. Because no mother is perfect and neither are her children. All we can do is hold fast to the moments of beauty and breathe our way through the rest.
Yesterday did not start out well. I was late getting up and so were the littles. Breakfast took too long, then the dawdling began during morning chores. We missed our scripture study and morning circle and almost forgot to pray. I can’t remember all the rest of the details, but no doubt there was quarreling and more dawdling and I felt the frustration rising. And when too many children demand my attention at once with too many tears and conflicting arguments, my brain shuts down temporarily and I lose my cool, then afterwards feel horrible for losing my temper.
I apologized to my two middle children and said, “You know, sometimes I just have such a hard time being a mother. Sometimes I don’t feel like I’m doing a very great job.”
And as my 9-year-old son sat there on the carpet, twisting cogs and gears together, he briefly looked up at me and slowly said with the most serious tone, “Heavenly Father made you a mom for a reason…so you could do something for this world.” And then he went right back to his gears.
Tears filled my eyes because I knew he was right. We’re mothers for a reason even if we feel like we fail more than we fly. Heavenly Father believes in us…and our children do too.
These 4 little handprints were pressed in the fresh cement of our new basketball court tonight, reminding me that even after a long week, they are still mine and I am theirs and I love them more than anything in this world.
If you’re going through a season of trial, remember that sometimes children have the wisest of answers.
If you find it hard to get up after you fall, remember the love of your children written in stone.
And if you doubt your abilities in your God-given roles, don’t ever give up, because Heavenly Father made you a mom for a reason…and you will do something for this world.
