Sunday, May 13, 2012

Happy Mother's Day!

Okay, it's the end of the day, but I hope everyone had a lovely Mother's Day.  I sure did, the weather helping out the most with beautiful blue skies and nice, warm weather. 

Thanks to my friends who guest-posted last week.  I hope my thousands of readers (or three) enjoyed reading about different motherhood experiences. 


I want to share a definition of motherhood that I found on Misty's blog:

"Motherhood is more than bearing children, though it is certainly that. It is the essence of who we are as women. It defines our very identity, our divine stature and nature, and the unique traits our Father gave us.

President Gordon B. Hinckley stated that “God planted within women something divine.”That something is the gift and the gifts of motherhood. Elder Matthew Cowley taught that “men have to have something given to them [in mortality] to make them saviors of men, but not mothers, not women. [They] are born with an inherent right, an inherent authority, to be the saviors of human souls … and the regenerating force in the lives of God’s children” (Sheri L. Dew). 


Isn't that beautiful and wonderful?  What a gift we have as women to be mothers, whether we physically bear children or not.  This quote and others from Misty's recent posts on motherhood have inspired me to be a better woman in many ways.  I love being inspired.

I have no earth-shattering gems to share about motherhood; I'm sure my experience is very similar to yours.  One lesson that I repeatedly learn is that my children are a reflection of me, and sometimes that reflection is not very pleasant.  But I am grateful for the reflection also, because I can better myself in very specific ways.  

A recent article in the April Ensign by Elder Bednar addressed the enabling powers of the Atonement, making good men better.  I have felt that power most powerfully in my mothering, when I've begged and pleaded with my Heavenly Father to help me be better than I am, give me more patience, more understanding, and more kindness.  That power is real and I've felt it work in me.

Another lesson learned in my maternal journey is to relax.  This is a very good lesson for me, the Deehr that I am.  We don't excel at relaxing, or going with the flow. 

I love my children so much.  The joy I have with my family is the sweetest feeling to me, and I try very hard to be aware of how blessed we are.  I love being a woman, a good example to my children.  I'm grateful to know where I came from, why I'm here on earth, and what will happen when I die. 

Here's an inspiring quote for us all to live up to:

A woman with a mother heart has a testimony of the restored gospel, and she teaches the principles of the gospel without equivocation. She is keeping sacred covenants made in holy temples. Her talents and skills are shared unselfishly. She gains as much education as her circumstances will allow, improving her mind and spirit with the desire to teach what she learns to the generations who follow her.If she has children, she is a “goodly parent” who lives and teaches standards of behavior exactly in line with the teachings of living prophets. She teaches her “children to pray, and to walk uprightly before the Lord” . Rather than listening to the voices and partial truths of the world, she knows that gospel standards are based on eternal, unchangeable truths. She believes that to be “primarily responsible for the nurture of [her] children” is a vital, dignified, and “sacred responsibilit[y]” (“The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” ). To nurture and feed them physically is as much an honor as to nurture and feed them spiritually. She is “not weary in well-doing” and delights to serve her family, because she knows that “out of small things proceedeth that which is great” (Sis. Julie B. Beck).



1 comment:

Amy said...

Happy Mother's Day, Shauna. You are a wonderful one for sure :)