What I’ll Miss

Right now I am in the trenches of motherhood. There are days of stress and frustration. I’ve cried. I’ve yelled. I’ve vented. And I’ve received my fair share of advice from seasoned mothers (most of which I am eternally grateful for!). Every once in a while,however, I am hit with cliché words of wisdom. My favorite?

Cherish each moment. You are going to miss this one day.

Sometimes when I hear this I can’t help but roll my eyes. Seriously? Puddles of pee, screaming baby at 2am, crumb covered floors, pencil on the piano, three year old tantrums, four year old sass, sleepless nights, non-stop days … That’s not what I’m going to miss. Not one bit.

It’s the moments that fill in the cracks between the chaos that I will miss; the quiet moments when my kids can just be. They are comfortable in their home, knowing they are safe and loved. They are content to be together and enjoy the world they have been brought into. They are all under my wing, safe from the rush of the world outside.

When I sit and think about these moments I realize that  their frequency is so much more up to me than it is them. As their mother, it is my attitude that dictates the day we have. It is my spirit that will in turn affect theirs.
I love these moments and yet sometimes it is so hard to be the catalyst for them. It takes work and planning. It takes thought and prayer. It requires me to “…be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long suffering; being temperate in all things…”   If I allow myself, I can easily become discouraged; so, so very easily.

Yet if I take a deep breathe and step outside of the mess I realize that a few minutes of prayer, an hour of scripture study, or the right song can lift my mood and bless me with the strength I need. If I want the Holy Ghost to be in my home, I must invite him into my life daily.

A simple concept. I wonder at times why it is so hard for me to remember. I want to remember, I need to remember, I vow to remember.

Because in the years to come I want to miss these precious moments, not because they didn’t happen, but because they did.