The following is excerpted from LDS Living. To read the full article, CLICK HERE.
As much as we love our children, many women—myself included—think back on the days before they had children when they could spend more time in the scriptures, more time at the temple, more time pondering and meditating and communing with God. In our current phase of life, it’s very easy to say, “My relationship with God was better before because I could do X, Y, or Z, but now I just don’t have time.” Or, even more dangerously, “God thinks less of me because I am not doing X, Y, or Z as much as I used to.”
But as one viral Instagram video taught me recently, that’s not a fair comparison.
The text from the video states, “When you are loving your children, you are loving God. When you are serving your children, you are serving God. ‘I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you took care of me.’ When I decided to find Christ in the faces of my children and make every task to care for them an offering and a prayer, it changed everything.”
As a mother to a toddler, I think about the verse in Ecclesiastes 3 a lot: “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” I have to remember that my current season of life will look different than any of my past or future seasons, and they’re all good in their own ways. Right now, our family is in a season of wrangling a young toddler. Our newlywed neighbors are in a season of starting their lives together. And our friends with teenagers are in a season of guiding their children through all that comes with those challenging times.
To read the full article, CLICK HERE.
MaryannJuly 6, 2022
As a mom of 7, I can relate to this article. We need to be gentle with ourselves and recognize that we are doing Heavenly Father's most important work--taking care of his children, loving them, teaching them. Having said that, I find it hard to accept the idea that mothers don't have time to pray or read scriptures. I just don't buy it. How about nap times? Most children do NOT need 100% of your attention all day long. Most kids spend some play time on the floor with toys. Sit down in a chair in the same room and read the scriptures--sure, you may be interrupted, but that's ok. Same thing with prayer. It is great for our children to SEE US do these things. Perhaps we need to let go of the false idea that we need to pray or read the scriptures "perfectly." But there IS time to do it.