January 03, 2012

the dews.


from our balcony this morning.
At different times in my mothering I have found individual children more difficult to love.  Are mothers allowed to admit that?  Not just children, my husband, a friend, a co-worker, an extended family member...  My natural response when i feel my heart hardening is to press forward with grit and determination.  I will love this person.  I go through the motions of affection, I speak the words of affection and pray that my soul will be changed.  This has served me well.  There is a scripture that says, "Whosoever shall DO my will shall KNOW of my doctrine."  The principle is true... Act and you will be Filled.

However, at the start of this past Christmas vacation I was at a different place. I was struggling to love a particular child and I was tired of fighting past it.  I gave my hard heart to the Lord.  I told Him that I needed His help and I let it go.  I just was where i was.

I began to notice the change in small things.  Instead of seeing fault in everything my child did, I started noticing goodness and effort.  It was as if I had a small angel sitting on my shoulder pointing things out that I hadn't seen before.  It was natural and real, not forced.

I told you yesterday about the unsolicited parenting advice i received from my friend.  He told me, "Just don't worry about the small things."   Particularly he was referring to a battle I was having that night with Ellie.  Ellie comes home crying because people say she is fat.  She cries that she wears a bigger size than her older sister.  And when I see her with a plate overflowing with dessert my heart cringes.  I don't know what to say or how to react.  I feel like I need to help her eat healthily.  So, she spends the whole night asking for my dessert and I spend the whole night telling her she's had enough.  Dave said, "Let it go."  He told me that he had a few sons who were bigger around her age and they just grew out of it as they matured.  When I told him she cries about her weight he smiled and said that would be a good motivator for her to eat less sweets on her own... i didn't need to worry.  I don't tell this story to tell you exactly how to parent or to make it seem like I know the right way to parent.  I tell you this story to say, on that day Heavenly Father knew exactly what I needed to hear.  It was soothing to my soul.  It was soothing to my relationship.  I felt a peace where I had previously felt worry.  And, it came as the dews from Heaven (d&c 121:45)-- not because I was struggling to figure things out.

This morning I kissed my little one goodbye as she headed to the car.  She was happy.  She wasn't last.  Yes, she still left her lunch by the front door- again.  (I'm still waiting for her frantic phone call.)  She left a pile of muddy washcloths and a dirty knife and scraped off mud all over a folding card table in my computer room (she had to scrape her uggs so she could wear them to school).  I have muddy footprints all over my carpet.  She was wearing a silky dress shirt and black pants to school.  (forever fancy!)  She listened to scripture time on the floor where she was playing with Eve.  She didn't wear socks, but grabbed a pair to put on in the car.  Her bed wasn't made.  I'm not sure if her teeth were brushed.  (Maybe they were, because I found her jammies on the floor in the bathroom.)  But, as I kissed her goodbye I felt overwhelming love in my heart.  She is a mess, but she tried so hard this morning.  I saw it without even trying.  I FELT it.  She was up and dressed, not whining in her bed.  She did her hair, she made her lunch.  She didn't cry about muddy shoes, she just took care of it.  She is young.  She is trying.  She is good.  And, she is loved.  By Him and me...

Today, i love that girl more.  A LOT.  I want to praise her efforts and comfort her journey.  I don't feel burdened, I feel blessed.  I see my sacred stewardship and I am ready to handle her with care.

God blessed me.
God changed me.
God took my hard heart and made it squishy wet with love.

I am so grateful.

I read this sweet story and i thought of ME.  Sitting at my piano trying to pluck out a song.  Every day I am blessed with a Savior who puts His arms around me and makes my song beautiful.
I am so grateful.
And, I thought of HER.
My sweet child... plucking away at life.
she is encompassed in His arms too.
and He is teaching me how to love her more every day.
we are both plucking at the Master's piano.

President Faust tells a story of a young piano student.  His mother, wishing to encourage him, “bought tickets for a performance of the great Polish pianist, Paderewski. The night of the concert arrived and the mother and son found their seats near the front of the concert hall. While the mother visited with friends, the boy slipped quietly away.“Suddenly, it was time for the performance to begin and a single spotlight cut through the darkness of the concert hall to illuminate the grand piano on stage. Only then did the audience notice the little boy on the bench, innocently picking out ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.’
“His mother gasped, but before she could move, Paderewski appeared on stage and quickly moved to the keyboard. He whispered to the boy, ‘Don’t quit. Keep playing.’ And then, leaning over, the master reached down with his left hand and began filling in the bass part. Soon his right arm reached around the other side, encircling the child, to add a running obbligato. Together, the old master and the young novice held the crowd mesmerized.
“In our lives, unpolished though we may be, it is the Master who surrounds us and whispers in our ear, time and time again, ‘Don’t quit. Keep playing.’ And as we do, He augments and supplements until a work of amazing beauty is created. He is right there with all of us, telling us over and over, ‘Keep playing.’” 
James E. Faust October 1999 General Conference "What it Means to be a Daughter of God."
I know that God answers prayers.
I know that we must LOVE MORE.
He doesn't just command us... he provides a way that we may accomplish the thing that He has commanded.
He changes us.
He is real.
I have felt His touch.
again.
and again.
I am born again.
and again.
oregon dews...
in small and simple ways are great things brought to pass.
just keep playing... (and praying.)
life is good.

10 comments:

  1. What a truthful post- you are not alone. Each child has it's moment, days, weeks where it's hard to love at that time
    sandy toe

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  2. Oh, another post I needed to hear. Thank you Jen, honestly, I love your thoughts and emotions. I think sometimes we all think we are so different when really our motherhood journeys are so much the same. We're all living and learning together. It's so nice to hear how you are surviving and thriving through your trenches, and helps me as I'm trudging through mine.

    And I didn't get your email... did you do a {dot} between ali and robinson? That causes me a lot of grief because I'm forever being left of email lists because of that darn dot! I thought it was such a great idea in the beginning. Anyhow, if you want to try one more time I'll watch for it. :)

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  3. thanks sandy... i love "shell in your pocket"... i grew up visiting the jersey shore often. today i have shells in my bathroom, but i love the feeling that shells in your pocket produces. great name!

    alison-- i'll try again. yup, no dot. i do think we are all learning similar lessons although our lives may be different. i think it's funny when people say to me "we have nothing in common" just because they don't have seven kids. :) my bestest friends are people that have everything and nothing in common with me. yup-- we're all heading to Zion together aren't we? and, it's also funny how quickly i forget my trenches if i don't write them down. when i'm UP people will say "how do you do it?" and i'll just be like, "I don't know, it isn't even hard." i forget so quickly...

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  4. I thoroughly appreciate that other mothers experience the same things I do. I have struggled enjoying one child in particular lately. I even made the comment to someone that I don't know if I can survive the next several years until they move out! I have resolved to dwell on the charge that we have been given to have "joy in your posterity". It's really helped, knowing that the children are here for us, just as we are here for them. We are to find joy. It's also helped to find something daily that brings me joy re: each child.

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  5. Dang it--this post made me cry! :-) *sigh* Allison & I were discussing this post on the phone this morning, & I hadn't even read it yet... but it is SO what I needed to read, relative to one of our own kiddos right now. I love how when I read your blog (um, ALL the time!) I feel inspired to be a better me, a better mother, a better wife... and that you write so that it sounds attainable. Thank you a million gajillion times over!

    P.S. I know Oregon is the right place for you... but why couldn't it have been Wichita?!? hee :-)

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  6. thanks rebecca and tiffany.
    all day yesterday i kept thinking... ugh, i hope that post didn't sound too negative. i'm not meaning to say how HARD life is, i'm meaning to say that GOD BLESSES ME so much. But, i don't know how to explain my blessings without saying what i need blessings for. and dang it, i'm almost ALWAYS asking for a changed heart more than anything else.
    i did ask for white couches (and got them)
    and for a ping pong table and Foosball table (got both on craigs list for $25/$50-- score!)
    but MOSTLY, i'm asking for a changed heart.
    again.

    thanks for your comments.
    there is much JOY in our posterity isn't there?!

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  7. I found your blog a while ago and I can't tell you how many times I have read your blog and it is just what I needed. I feel so many of the same emotions, frustrations and just the want to do better. Your blog has inspired me in so many ways. Thanks so much for being willing to put all of those feelings on your blog so that people like me can feel uplifited and hope. Thanks again!

    Catherine from Wyoming

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  8. thanks catherine from wyoming. i love how you said the "want to do better." isn't that the truth?! some days i wish my abilities matched my desire... and then i know that if that happened, my desires would just increase. oh, but i just read the best quote about how the savior loved in small moments. so good. just one moment at a time, right?!

    thanks for the comment!! nice to meet you!

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  9. ps. my white couches DO have red candy cane fingerprints ALL over them. :) i think of the snake- you knew what i was when you picked me up. oh, gotta love it.

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  10. ps. tiffany- i cried when i wrote this blog too! seriously. i cry when i write lots of blogs. i think it's because in a small way i'm bearing my testimony of God's help as I parent... and i KNOW it's real. and i KNOW i need Him! even though i always feel silly being uber relgious on a BLOG. plus- i'm nursing so my hormones are all over the place-- or should i say, i am a woman and so my hormones are crazy!! hah! i'm kind of having fun with my blog length comments. :)

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