Motherhood

So I love RSS feeds....I love how I can tell at a glance who blogged what and when. I love how I can keep track of dozens of interesting people and sites with much less effort.

That being said, I have Scrapbook Alchemy on my list of sites I check. It started out as a way to keep track of her fantastic Photoshop Friday articles. Somewhere along the way, I started to really enjoy her tales of motherhood and the amazing photos of her children. I rarely comment, except as a thank you for her freebies and tips, but the other day she mentioned giving a talk in church on Motherhood. (suprise, she's LDS too!) She linked to the talk and it was wonderful and inspiring...

So here is a bit for you to read. If you want to check out the entire talk, look here.

Well, the more I think about it, the more it seems to me that motherhood and missionary work have a lot in common, as I’ve come to realize after thinking about this for a couple of weeks. You are called into full-time service. You are sent into strange lands, set to doing unfamiliar things. You are given responsibility over souls to teach and to show the way to live. And it can be the great spiritual experience of your life, if you let it.

Before I was called on a mission, I was excited about the glamor of missionary work. I get the black tag, I get to wear a dress every day, see thousands of people baptized and teach discussions to dozens of eager listeners. Then I WENT on a mission, and I realized that missionary work is mostly just plain WORK. Hot, dusty, snowy, freezing cold, hard work.

Before I became a mama, I was excited about the glamor of motherhood. I get the cute stroller, the baby bjornn, the diaper bag, the walks in the park and at the mall. And let’s talk about shopping for the teeny clothes! Ah, be still my heart. Then Rowen was born. And she cried. For 5 months. Elliott came 16 months later and I knew I was in for it bigtime.

I began to realize that motherhood is mostly just plain HARD WORK. And for motherhood, just as in missionary work the development of virtues that may not come naturally, like patience – oh, so much patience, longsuffering, the ability to keep long hours, the ability to see deeply and with perspective...is a gift that only comes because of the sacrifices involved.

In 1942 the First Presidency declared, "Motherhood is near to divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind.” But it often doesn’t feel that high or that holy. Especially on your knees scrubbing, or folding endless laundry, or the rounds of cooking and cleaning and cooking again, washing sand out of hair and clothing and, well, pretty much everywhere – learning to tolerate a much higher level of noise and chaos, and that “barely keeping it together” feeling.

In John 13: 3-5,.... It says in this beautifully moving passage: “Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.”
He goes on to say that if he who was greatest could wash feet – if the Master could serve in such a menial task, could not we all serve? Suddenly, wiping peanut butter off a small face doesn’t seem so menial. In fact, it seems that such small service, rendered with love, is the foundation upon which the kingdom of God is built. And knowing – if we could only remember it in the toughest times - that we are about our Father’s business in this calling is a wonderful thing.

So why do they call a mission a “mission”, anyway, and not “18-months to 2 years of self-imposed poverty, too little sleep, incredible emotional and spiritual exertion, and too-hot, too-cold hard physical labor, that you will still end up somehow coming home and telling everyone it was the best two years of your life?” Well, not to mention the fact that “mission” is just easier, it also implies a focus. A targeted series of activities, An inner calling to pursue an activity, an operation intended to carry out specific objectives.

And this is probably the clearest reason why motherhood is a mission, too. Rather than “18 years of self-imposed poverty, too little sleep, incredible emotional and spiritual exertion, and too-hot, too-cold hard physical labor, that you will still end up somehow telling everyone it was the best time of your life.” But it is targeted. Its objectives are specific, and it is a calling, more important, say the prophets, than almost any other that the Lord gives to anyone. So it is not that the road is not difficult – indeed that it will not be the most difficult thing we ever do, because, for me at least, it definitely is. No thing worth doing is easy to do, and this has never been truer here.

And...the difficulty lies partly in losing the eternal perspective – in seeing the endless work of being a mom as only MY work, and not the work of the Lord, who has given me the calling to watch over, care for, teach, lead, and love with all my guts these small people who are very literally his people, too. He has at LEAST as much tied up in this as I do, and anxiously awaits to help, if we’ll only ask.


So there you have it. I think that I need to remind myself of this fact occasionally...to remember the eternal perspective and the glory in the mundane.