Excerpts from a talk....

This blog contains excerpts from a talk I gave for Mother's Day in the nineties. It is really long so I am just including some thoughts that helped me when my children were very young and continue to guide me today. I hope they bring insight to you and you also enjoy some humorous moments that I had recorded and forgotten about. Good ideas not always easy to follow.

"President Benson in his fireside to parents gave ten specific suggestions to help mothers spend effective time with their children. First, take time to always be at the crossroads when your children are coming or going, when they leave and return from school, when they leave and return from dates, when they bring friends home. Be there at the crossroads whether your children are six or sixteen." Second, mothers take time to be a real friend to your children. Listen to your children, really listen. Talk with them, laugh and joke with them, sing with them, play with them, cry with them, hug them and honestly praise them." He further told us to take time to read and pray with our children, have meaningful family home evenings. Teach them correct principles. "Mothers, you are your children's best teacher." A final suggestion: Mothers, take the time to truly love your children. A mother's unqualified love approaches Christlike love. Our young people need love and attention, not indulgence he added. He further stated, they need empathy and understanding, not indifference from mothers and fathers. They need the parent's time. " (sorry to my kids, I was not perfect!)

......A friend of mine told me of a sister who had eight children and who did not enjoy being a mother, she felt it was her duty. My heart aches for her to not know the joy of mothering to only see the negative in what she does. Children put many demands upon our time and when our eternal vision of things is clouded by earthly matters we become overwhelmed and lose perspective. It is a challenge. When my son dumped a quart of cooking oil on the carpet I did not see joy, or when permanent dry erase markers graced our walls all I saw was a mess that had to be painted over. When he lovingly squeezed baby quail to their death we didn't hug and kiss him......One day after cleaning up yet another Joshua "mess" I turned to Fred and said, Is their joy to be found in this and his answer was, "well I guess he was exercising his creativity. The joy of mothering comes in small doses unexpectedly. A few years ago while traveling Natalie was singing I am a child of God. When she came to the part 'and he has sent me here ' she started to cry for she was feeling the spirit. After our basement was flooded for the second time we were busy and hurrying about trying to clean up the damage. Our daughter Natalie must have sensed the stress we were under and wanting to help us she made me a note that read. "I love you, you are an adult of God. A small reward, a time of joy.

I would like to pay tribute to all those who mother, those of you women who care and nurture children, whether they be your own or those of other women, those who have warmed our hearts and nurtured and inspired us. May we remember that all that we are, or hope to be, we owe to a mother who loved us and taught us.